A Key To Nothing
by Mad Genius Juul
Summary: What would it be like if instead of Wendy, Erin had the premonition? How would it effect everyone else? Could Erin save everyone, or at least spare a few lives? VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE MOVIE! Not for those with weak constitutions...
1. The Beginning of All Things To End

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Summary: What would it be like if instead of Wendy, Erin had the premonition? How ****would it effect everyone else? Could Erin save everyone, or at least spare a few lives?**

**Chapter One: The Beginning of All Things To End**

Tonight was Grad Night for McKinley High School's seniors at a small amusement park called WonderLand. All the seniors could come for free, but everyone else had to pay the normal price of eighty dollars per ticket. It was a nice, cloudless night; not even a star to be seen. The neon glows of the thrill rides gave the place a vivid effect.

Little did anyone know, this beautiful night was the beginning of the end for a large group of teens at McKinley High School.

Among these doomed teens were Erin Ulmer and Ian McKinley. They were the school's resident goth couple. They didn't really have their own crowd except for each other; they talked to some of the metalheads and punk-freaks, but hardly anyone else. Erin had long red hair, green eyes, and was usually seen with Ian. Ian had messy black hair, brown eyes, and was usually seen with Erin.

They were one of the cutest couples in the school, voted second place by the seniors in their graduating class as 'cutest couple.' Their two friends, Jason Wise and Wendy Christenson, got voted as cutest couple, but it didn't bother them much.

The goth couple was currently at a "Skill Shooter" booth by the Food Court. The object of the game was to shoot as many pigeon-shaped cut-outs as possible within two minutes and who ever won got to choose a prize. Ian currently had a paint-ball gun and was aiming at one of the pigeons. He had already shot three and everyone else seemed to be aiming for everything but the pigeons.

"Okay, Pip," said Ian, calling Erin his pet name for her, "I'm gonna win you that big, black bear, and if I don't, some heads will roll..."

Erin rolled her eyes at him. "Only you could say that and be joking about it..."

"Who said I was joking?" said Ian, winking at her before taking aim.

Erin shook her head. _He's so goofy. No wonder I fell for him. _

As funny and laid back as Ian could be, he was also compassionate and caring when the time called for it. Ian was always there for Erin when no one else was, and she was very thankful for it. They had been dating for almost three years now, and they had known each other since grade school.

All of a sudden, one of their friends from school, Wendy, came up to them with a camera.

"Yearbook?" she said.

"Hold on, tootse," said Ian, "We don't do pictures!"

"Ian," said Erin, "come on, it's just for the senior night photos."

"Nope," said Ian, "Remember, kids, we could be vampires, which means that Wendy, you'd be taking this picture for no reason."

Wendy held up the camera and took the picture. Right before she hit the button, Ian turned his head to face Erin and Erin held her hand up, covering her face, her middle finger up.

"Nice, Erin," said Wendy in a sarcastic tone, "That was lovely."

"I know," said Erin. Ian laughed as Wendy turned and left.

Ian shot down one of the targets, leaving a splatter of blue paint right above it's eye. He laughed a little before shooting three more. A buzzer went off signaling the end of the run. Ian had shot the most targets, eleven, while the second place score was merely six. The game attendant asked Ian which prize he wanted and he pointed to a big black and purple bear on the top shelf.

After Ian got his hands on the bear, he turned and handed it to Erin. "For you."

"Aw, Ian," said Erin as he kissed her on the forehead, "You're so sweet."

"I know," said Ian, putting his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, "And now, I think it's time that we go on the Devil's Flight." He said the last two words with a growl, which made Erin giggle a bit.

"Quit it with the sexy heavy metal growl," said Erin.

Ian smiled. "Well, if it is indeed sexy, why should I stop?"

"You're such a smart-ass!" Erin said.

"But I'm _your _smart-ass." Ian grinned at her and she playfully smacked him in the arm. The goth boy gave her a fake pouting look. "Erin, that hurt," he said in a childish voice.

"Uh huh," said Erin, sarcastically, "I'm sure it did."

By now, they had made it to the line for the Devil's Flight, the biggest rollercoaster in the state of Pennsylvania. Erin looked at the enormous fake Satan sitting on top of the entrance/exit station. He was crouched down, with his hand stretched out in a beckoning sort of way.

"You can run, but you can't hide," said the Satan.

000000000000000000000000000000

After being in line for a little over forty-five minutes, Erin and Ian could finally see the turnstiles. They walked through with no problem at all, but Erin noticed a sign that she found a little unnerving for some reason. It said: No exit after turnstiles.

_What am I so freaked about? _Erin thought. _I love rollercoasters. Nothing to worry about. Besides, __Ian's right here with me. _Erin had a really bad feeling about tonight from the start, but she disregarded it until now. She felt her stomach turn and her palms begin to sweat.

Ian noticed a look of discomfort on her face. "It's okay, babe," he said as he put his arm around her waist. "You love rollercoasters. And besides, we've ridden all the others in this park, except this one. So what if it's the biggest coaster in the state? Nothing we can't handle!" He ended his last sentence with a laugh.

They came to the point where people were dividing so that they could head for a certain seat in the rollercoaster. Ian and Erin headed for the back; they didn't really care where they sat. They noticed Jason and Wendy get in the line for the front next to them. They were with their friends, Kevin and Carrie.

"Hey, McKinley," said Jason. "'Sup?" He held up his hand and Ian gave him a high five for no apparent reason other than the fact that they were guys who had been friends since grade school. Erin and Wendy laughed at them.

"So are you guys psyched about the Devil's Flight?" asked Kevin, making conversation.

"Yeah, a little," said Ian.

"What? Oh, yeah," said Erin, still trying to rid herself of the overwhelming feeling of anxiety.

"You okay, Erin?" asked Wendy, "You seemed fine back at the Skill Shooter."

Erin shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just have... have this feeling... ya know, like deja vu, except with something that hasn't happened yet."

"Well," said Jason, "Just remember what we've all learned in Physics class. Rollercoasters are just a conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy."

Erin nodded, attempting to look reassured; she didn't want Ian to worry too much.

"Yep," said Ian, "Odds are more likely you're to die driving to an amusement park than dying at one." Erin gave him 'the look'. "Looks like it didn't work," said Ian in disappointment.

"So, where are you guys sitting?" asked Carrie.

Ian shrugged. "Probably somewhere in back. We don't really care as long as we get to ride."

"Well, Kevin and I are sitting in front, right?" said Carrie.

"Of course we are--"

Jason cut him off. "Come on, Kev," he said, "You promised Wen and me that we could sit in front."

"Yeah," said Kevin, "But that promise was so long ago, I'm surprised that you remembered."

"Actually," interjected Wendy, "You guys made that 'promise' this morning."

Both boys gave her an annoyed look. "Okay," said Kevin, "Let's settle this thing like gentlemen." He pulled a quarter out of his pocket. "Call it."

"Heads," said Jason.

Kevin flipped the quarter up in the air. It landed tails up. "Shit," said Kevin. "Well, looks like we're sitting in back, Carrie."

"Oh, well," said Wendy to Carrie, "There's always next time." Carrie smiled at her friend before going with Kevin towards the lines for the back of the coaster. Ian and Erin followed them. Ian waved at Wendy and Jason as they went to the line for the very front seat.

Erin followed Ian to car number four; the last one. Erin didn't mind sitting in the very back. Kevin and Carrie were to sit in the seat in front of them, and in front of them were a couple of kids; Erin couldn't tell who, though.

Kevin and Ian talked while they waited for their ride. Erin was friends with Carrie, but she didn't feel like talking right now. That feeling of dread was starting to wreak havoc on Erin's mind again.

Trying not to be rude, she started conversation with Carrie. "So what are you doing after graduation?"

"Hmm," thought Carrie, "Well, for one, I'm going to Berkeley College. I think I'll try to major in nursing and medical or something like that. They get a decent salary."

Erin nodded. The feeling was still there... "I don't know what I'll do. Probably stay here in McKinley until Ian and I have enough money to get our own place."

"Hey, Erin," said Ian, "Do you think Wendy's mad at me for being an ass back there?"

"What? What are you--" Ian's question was so random, but Erin had to admit: He _was _being an ass when all she wanted was a picture.

"She gave me a nasty look when we met with her and Jay in line," said Ian, rubbing the back of his neck in a guilty fashion.

"I'm sure she'll get over it," said Erin.

"Hold on," said Ian, "I'm just going to go up there and apologize real fast, okay?"

"No, Ian, you don't have to!" Erin said. In truth, she was pleading for him to stay just so she wouldn't feel as scared. She'd never tell him that she was scared, though.

Ian kissed her on the forehead and gave her a warm, long hug. "Hey, Pip, I'll be right back."

Erin heard the rollercoaster pull into the station, "But our ride's here," she said in a pleading voice.

Ian looked directly into her eyes. "Trust me," he said, "And if I have to catch the next train, wait for me. Or maybe I can get Jay to switch me places or something."

"Ian..." Erin gave him a pleading look.

"You'll be okay," said Ian. He sprinted toward the front line, and right before talking to Jason, he turned in Erin's direction. "Hey!" He pointed at her and winked. "Meet you at the end!"

Erin nodded and tried to form a smile, but inside she was cracking up. That foreshadowing feeling was really starting to freak her out, now.

The ride's former guests climbed out of their seats, some dizzy, some smiling, some horrified.

Carrie seemed to have noticed Erin's discomfort. "Hey, Erin," she said, "It's okay. He'll be right back, and besides, I see Jay coming back here. He'll protect you."

Jason made it back to where Kevin, Erin, and Carrie were standing. "Hey, guys, what's up?"

"Is Wendy gonna be okay up there with him?" asked Kevin.

"Yeah," said Jason, "She said she needed to talk to him about something anyway. I think she mentioned earlier about him needing to edit some of the pages for the yearbook, since he's in the Photography Club anyway."

Jason saw the nervous look on Erin's face. "Erin," he said, "you've been acting funny since you and Ian got in line. What's up?"

"Just... feeling a little different," Erin replied. _Nothing's going to happen..._

Jason gave Kevin and Carrie a questioning look. He turned back to Erin, "Ah, don't worry. Soon we'll all be on the top of the hill, then going down, and on the first corkscrew screaming our lungs out."

"Yeah!" said Kevin, holding his fist up in the air. Carrie rolled her eyes at him.

The gates opened, and everyone climbed into their seats.


	2. Trapped In the Wake of a Dream

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Two: Trapped In the Wake of a Dream**

Erin climbed into the rollercoaster car right after Jason. Jason smiled as he spotted the ride attendants coming back as they pushed everyone's restraints down.

"Ha ha," said Jason, "I see that goon Frankie Cheeks up there. He's probably terrorizing the Ashes."

Erin laughed weakly.

Jason continued in hopes to get his friend to calm down. He could still tell she was scared. "I don't personally mind them, but Ashlyn and Ashley, well, sometimes they seem to deserve Frankie's perve-ness..." He laughed a bit at his attempt at creating a fake word to describe Frankie.

Their restraints were pushed down.

Kevin turned around. "Are you ready?"

"Hell yeah!" yelled Jason. He threw his arms in the air. "Woo-hoo!"

Carrie laughed at him, and Kevin joined in.

Erin tried another weak attempt at a laugh while she strained her neck to see who all was on the rollercoaster with them. She wanted to make sure Ian was on the same ride as her. And there he was, in the front seat talking with Wendy. Then it was some random seniors in their class, Rouge Bennington and Chester Moore, Donna Garner and Raven Moody, Geoff Rose and Danny Law... Erin was a little relieved in the fact that some of the music freaks she talked to were in the same car as Ian.

Frankie Cheeks was in the last seat in the car in front of them, and Erin saw one of the ride attendants telling him off for having his video camera out. There were a couple of kids in front of Kevin and Carrie, but Erin couldn't tell who they were.

"Hey," said Kevin, "My seatbelt's not working!" Jason and Erin crained their necks to look over the seat in front of them. Kevin laughed and looked back at them, "I guess I'm too big!"

"Yeah, right," came Carrie's voice from next to him.

One of the ride attendants walked towards their car. "Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah," said Kevin, "My seatbelt won't work."

"Well," said the attendant. "Either get off, or get someone to switch seats with you."

"I will," came a girl's voice from the seat in front of Kevin's. The attendant called for the restraints to be let up in the back. The restraints went up and Kevin and Carrie switched places with two mystery girls. It bothered Erin that she couldn't tell who they were.

Apparently, Kevin _was _too big; the seatbelt worked just fine for the girl. The restraints went back down after the girls, Kevin, and Carrie were properly seated. "Okay," said the ride attendant. He held up his hand. "All clear."

Erin watched the other attendants do the same. Then the man operating the coaster hit a big red button and the ride started. All the guys were yelling and screaming in excitement; a few of the girls were, too.

"Here we go!" said Jason.

The rollercoaster started going up the lift-hill as soon as it had gotten completely out of the station. Erin could see people in front of her throwing their hands up, some making peace signs and devil horns.

Jason threw his hands up. "Woo-hoo!"

Erin gripped the handles on her restraints with all her might. Her hands were sweating and she could feel her heart rate speeding up. She looked around over the edge of the rollercoaster and saw how high up they were. She could see all the rides and attractions from up there. They were so high up that they made the High Dive look like a tic-tac.

Jason smiled at Erin. "You feelin' better, yet?" he asked.

Erin lied, "Kind of."

"Good."

They reached the top of the hill and as the coaster started down it, Erin could hear the chain quit as it let go. People, mainly girls, started screaming as the Devil's Flight soared down the hill, quickly gaining speed. Erin gripped the restraints even harder as the first turn came up at the bottom of the hill. She saw the flash of the on-ride photo just before a sharp turn, followed by the first corkscrew.

Usually, Erin thought the loops and corkscrews on rollercoasters were the best part, but this time, they only made her feel worse. This time, she found it completely dreadful. After the corkscrew came a small hill. The ride sped up the hill and then down it once more, leading into the first loop.

Right at the peak of the loop, Erin saw something fall down and land on the tracks. She had no idea what it was, but she knew nothing good would come of it. The coaster came down and ran over the object on the tracks. The cars jolted a little as the bottoms of them were torn up.

Erin felt her restraint gradually come loose, and then it flew up. She screamed and Jason held it down, along with his own. "Erin!" he yelled. "I got it!"

She saw in horror all the other restraints fly up and people jumping up and pulling them down, hanging on for dear life. The coaster hit a small hill and the front two cars flew off, with them, Ian and Wendy.

"IAN!" screamed Erin, watching the cars fall to the ground, hitting it with the sound of crushed metal.

"WENDY!" Jason turned around in terror, but then sat back down, remembering to hold his restraint down.

The remaining two cars carried on at a high speed. Erin screamed as she saw Lewis Romero fly over her head, screaming. She started to cry after she heard his body hit one of the support beams behind them. Jason cursed a few times in between screams. Ashlyn and Ashley came flying past them next.

The ride hit a bump before going into the second loop. Frankie Cheeks and the car in front of theirs flew off the track. Erin and Jason's car went up to the top of the loop and stayed there. Jason and Erin tried as hard as they could to stay in their seats. Jason held himself in with all his strength and he held Erin in as best as he could. The two girls in front of them fell, screaming, and when they hit the ground, a nice crunch noise was heard.

Kevin and Carrie fell out, holding onto their restraints.

"CARRIE!" screamed Erin. "HOLD ON!"

"I CAN'T!" Carrie screamed back. Kevin let go of his restraint, and Carrie followed suit.

"KEV!" yelled Jason. "Erin, help me rock it!"

Jason and Erin rocked the coaster back and forth and soon it started going backwards, slowly gaining speed. Jason stood up and turned around for literally just a split second. He screamed in horror as he was hit with a piece of debri sticking out of one of the support beams. The sound of Jason's spine snapping was heard as he was hurled over the front of the car and slammed into the track.

Erin screamed in pure terror as the rollercoaster continued to speed backwards, slowly going up a small hill. The coaster jolted at the top of the hill as it hit a piece of broken track. Erin screamed as she felt the car fly up into the air and fall backwards. She fell out of the car and towards her death, screaming for dear life.

Right before she hit the ground, it was as if she had just woken up.

"Erin?" she heard Jason's voice coming from the seat next to hers.

Breathing heavily, Erin looked around in horror. They were still in the car at the station. "We have to get out of here..."

"Erin?" Jason cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

The goth girl looked up and saw Kevin and Carrie sitting down two seats in front of them, the girls from before had switched them seats.

Erin felt a tear roll down her cheek. "We _really _have to get off..."

The attendant beside them held up his hand...

"NO!" Erin screamed. "NO! DON'T PUSH THE BUTTON!" Everyone turned to look at her. "LET ME OFF! IT'S GONNA CRASH, IT'S GONNA CRASH!"

Normally, Erin didn't like drawing attention to herself, but this was a matter of life and death. She pulled helplessly at the restraints around her shoulders and cried for the ride attendants to let her off. "LET ME OUT OF HERE! YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME!"

The manager of the Devil's Flight came out of a door and into the station. "What's the problem here?" he asked.

One of the attendants answered him. "This chick's on something."

The manager pointed to the man operating the ride. "Let 'em off! Just the back!" All the restraints for the back two cars flew up.

Erin scrambled out of her seat, tripping a little. Jason caught her, but she pulled away from him.

"Okay, Miss," said the manager as he walked towards the tear-stricken girl, "What's the problem?"

"I don't know," Jason answered him, "She was a little freaked out before the ride, but--"

"I saw it," said Erin, hastily wiping her tears away, "I saw it in my head! The rollercoaster-- the hydraulics ruptured-- it crashed!"

"Jason," came a voice from behind them, "Could you _please _keep that kid under control?" It was Lewis. "I don't know where McKinley is, but tell him to keep his freak on a leash! She's just trying to draw even more attention to herself. 'It's gonna crash! It's gonna crash!'" He imitated Erin in a high falsetto voice.

Jason walked towards him. "Hey, I've known Erin for a while, and _nobody _talks shit about her!"

He shoved Lewis a few feet. "Fuck you, Lewis."

"Fuck moi?" Lewis pointed to himself and then shoved Jason. "No, man, fuck _you_!" Jason proceeded to get into a fight with Lewis. Lewis swung his fist at Jason, but he missed. Instead he accidentally smacked Carrie, causing Kevin to get involved. Kevin leaped over Carrie and out of the seat, knocking Jason and Lewis to the ground. Carrie got out, followed by the Ashes, Frankie, and the mystery girls.

Over all the commotion, Erin heard Ian yelling at the ride operator. "Dude, let me off! That's my girlfriend!"

Erin looked in horror at the guys fighting. "STOP IT!"

Carrie came over to her and gently grabbed her arm. "Come on, Erin, let's go..."

"No!" Erin broke free and ran towards the front car. "IAN!"

"ERIN!" Ian screamed, reaching out to her.

Erin looked at the ride operater, tears streaming down her face. "DON'T PUSH THE BUTTON!"

All of a sudden, she felt someone grab her forcefully from behind, pinning her arms to her sides and momentarily knocking the wind out of her.

It was the manager. "Okay, lady, you're coming with me!"

"LET GO!" Erin screamed, struggling to get free.

"ALL OF YOU!" screamed the ride attendant as he looked over his shoulder at the fighting boys, whose fight had been broke up by Carrie and the Ashes, who were _still _getting harassed by Frankie and his camera.

Carrie rushed over to Erin and the manager. "Get off her!" Carrie yelled at the manager. He let Erin go and Carrie grabbed her by her arm to lead her away. "Let's go, Erin," she said in a quiet, calm voice.

"What about Ian?" Erin asked, still crying.

"He'll be fine," said Carrie.

Carrie led Erin down the exit ramp of the Devil's Flight, everyone else following them in a reluctant manner. People were screaming, mainly Lewis and Jason, with Kevin's voice in there, too, but all of this sounded underwater, almost non-existant to Erin.

She heard the rollercoaster start and froze in her tracks. She whipped around and ran at full speed towards the station, narrowly missing Jason and the manager, who both tried to grab her.

"IAN!" Erin screamed, stopping as she saw the ride leave the station. She turned to the ride's operator and started in on him. "WHY'D YOU PUSH THE BUTTON?! WHY'D YOU DO IT?! THEY'RE GOING TO _DIE!_"

Once again, Erin felt the manager's arms go around her body and heard him screaming at people that there was nothing to see and things like that to avoid even more confusion and chaos. Jason came running into the station.

"Hey!" yelled Jason. "Get off of her!"

The manager let go of Erin and then pointed a finger at Jason. "Both of you kids are coming with me." He led them out a back door of the station and down a small flight of metal stairs. He grabbed Erin by her forearm and led her down the stairs, Jason behind them.

"Get off!" Jason yelled at the manager.

They reached the bottom of the stairs. Erin was still hysterical and Jason was still very obviously pissed off.

"Okay," said the manager, "What's your home phone number? I'm going to call your mom and have her come pick you up and--"

The Devil's Flight derailed.

The three people turned around.

And a crash was heard as twisted metal and bodies hit the ground.

"IAN!" screamed Erin as she collapsed to her knees in tears.


	3. Broken People Fix Again

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**A/N: Yep. Jason's alive 'n' Wendy's dead. Carrie's alive and Ian's dead. Weird, ain't it?**

**Chapter Three: Broken People Fix Again**

The clouds overhead hung low, heavy with rain. It was the leftovers from the "April Showers" even though it was the first day of June. Even for summer, it was cold out, a mere forty-two degrees outside. The rain must have done it.

Erin Ulmer stood in front of Ian McKinley's headstone, holding a bouquet of black roses, a bouquet that was originally meant to be red roses for a happier time. But now, that happier time would never come, and the silver-banded ring with a sapphire in it on the ring finger of Erin's left hand was all meant in vain. The ring's promise was never to be fullfilled.

**IAN MATTHEW MCKINLEY  
****1988 - 2005  
****FRIEND. SON. FIANCE.**

Erin stared in pure agony at the engravings on the marble monument in front of her. There were a few bouquets of random types of flowers at the foot of the headstone. Erin had been really depressed ever since the rollercoaster accident. Everything up until now had been like a dream to her; a very horrible nightmare. The saddest part is that it took Ian's funeral to bring Erin to realize that her bad dream was a worse reality.

The girl kneeled down in front of Ian's headstone and she gently placed the flowers at it's bottom. Erin tried to avoid reading the engravement on the plaque, but she couldn't help looking at it. "Ian..." Erin said his name as she sat there staring at the piece of marble. "I'm so sorry..."

Her gaze pointed down at the flowers as she let the dam holding back her week's worth of tears break. Attending the funerals for her other friends, Rouge and Chester, was hard enough. Wendy's was even worse; Wendy had been her best friend in grade school and remained as one of her few close ones in high school.

But Ian's funeral was what had broken her.

Ian had been the only person Erin could completely confide in. She had trusted Wendy with her life, but she had trusted Ian with her life and soul. Ian was always there for her no matter what. He was what made her feel like she was someone, he was what made her smile on the gloomiest of days. He was her life. And he was taken from her with such a force that she tried so hard to stop... but couldn't.

Erin remembered the time that she had went to the Family Values tour with Ian a few years ago. That was the first and only concert she had ever been to, and Ian bought front row tickets just for the two of them. Ian was her first and only boyfriend. Ian was the one who kept her from taking her own life. Ian was the one who stepped in and called child protective services on her abusive step-father two years ago.

They had their whole lives planned out. They were going to work overtime at Build It this summer and try to get enough money to move out of McKinley and to an apartment by a college. They were going to put themselves through college and eventually get their degrees in Graphic Art/Commercial Illustration. And when all of this was over they were going to settle down and have a few kids someday.

But before all of this even happened, they were planning on getting married... right after graduation. Erin felt the rain pound against her back as she kneeled down, hunched over a little. Her bangs fell over her eyes, which no longer had any sign of happiness in them. Her black eye-liner was smeared from her tears. Erin took the ring off of her finger and held it in the palm of her hand. She made a fist and squeezed as hard as she could until she could feel the sapphire digging into her palm. Erin held her hands against her chest and cried.

She was alone. Death had taken everything from her.

000000000000000000000000000000

For the few days after Ian's funeral, Erin slept most of the time. She skipped school the day after his funeral and only went to school the following day just to avoid nagging from her mother. At school, it seemed as if she had become a celebrity or something; people she didn't even know would just walk up to her and say that they were sorry that Ian had died.

Even her worst enemies had come to pay their respects. Some of the guys that used to throw things at her in science class would come up to her and say things like, "Hey, I'm sorry to hear about Ian; he was actually pretty cool now that I think about it." If she didn't feel so depressed, Erin would've laughed at their attempts at pity. But what if they did feel that way?

On the last day of school for seniors, Erin decided she had enough of people's pity. _The next person __who comes up to me with some sort of fake pity is gonna get it... _She thought angrily as she messed around with the combination lock on her locker. She got it open on the third try after angrily beating it a few times, leaving a dent.

Erin grabbed the remaining notebooks out of her locker and hastily shoved them under her free arm. She pulled some of the pictures of her favorite bands out of the door and crumbled them up. She stopped when she saw her and Ian's homecoming picture in the door. Erin bit her bottom lip and tried to stop the tears from coming. She pulled the picture out of her locker and slammed the door shut. The goth girl walked over to a nearby trash can and dumped her extra school supplies in it.

Erin adjusted the strap on her messenger bag before heading down the hall towards the school parking lot. She stopped when she noticed a memorial in a glass case. It was for the students who had died on the Devil's Flight. Rouge and Chester's pictures were there. Danny Law, Amy Swinton, Raven Moody, Geoff Rose... Wendy's picture was between Geoff's and Donna's. And then there was Ian McKinley... between Jason Barclay and Wes Oz.

Erin put her hand on the glass over Ian's picture. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and she didn't even care to wipe it away. After taking one last glance at the memorial, Erin went down the hall towards the parking lot. Right before she had gotten out the double doors, Erin heard Jason's voice as he darted out of the Physics classroom after her.

"Hey!" yelled Jason. "Erin!"

Erin jogged a little bit as she went out into the parking lot and the rain. She didn't want to be around anyone.

Jason caught up with her. "Erin," he said, "Listen to me."

Erin stopped and gave him a nasty look. "Jason, not now." Then she continued the walk to her vehicle.

"I've got something to talk to you about," said Jason.

"If it's about graduation, you can just go fuck yourself because I'm not going," said Erin. She was ready to hit Jason if he didn't leave her alone. "I just got my diploma before I left."

"It's not about graduation," said Jason, standing in front of Erin and putting his hands on her shoulders. "But it would be nice if you graduated with everyone else. Isn't that what Ian would have wanted?"

Erin snapped at him, "No, that's _not _what Ian wanted. Ian wanted _me _to graduate _with him. _And I don't see that happening any time soon."

"Erin," pleaded Jason, "If you don't do it for Ian, do it for Wen, and all the other kids who..." he couldn't finish his sentence. "You're not the only one in a fucked up place right now."

"I'm not?" asked Erin sarcastically. "How the fuck would you know that? Ian was everything to me. He was the only person I could fully confide in, second being Wendy. And you know what? They're both dead! Gone! Disappeared like dust! And are they ever coming back? No!" Erin rammed her shoulder into Jason's as she walked around him and stormed off.

Erin walked past the awning by the cafeteria at a quick pace. There were a lot of people over there, mostly survivors in her class, and she didn't want any more sympathy or empathy. It was starting to make her sick. To her annoyance, Julie Christenson, Wendy's sister, ran over to her.

Julie stood in front of her, a pathetic look on her face; it was near to Erin's. "Erin," said Julie in a meek voice, "take Wendy's camera with you. You're the only person I know that was in yearbook with her." Julie held out the camera for Erin.

Erin took it, and as she looked at Julie once more, she felt almost every ounce of anger and annoyance flood out of her system. She didn't have the heart to be cruel to this girl. Wendy was Julie's _sister _for God's sake!

Erin took the small device from Julie and stuffed it into her bag. "Julie," she said, "I'm terribly sorry about Wendy. She was my best friend."

"I miss her so much," said Julie. After a few moments of awkward silence, Julie fell against Erin and wrapped her arms around her, crying.

Erin wasn't sure what to do, as she was also in emotional turmoil. She settled on returning Julie's embrace and rested her chin on the younger girl's head.

_Julie, if only you knew what I knew... If only I could have stopped that rollercoaster..._


	4. Forget To Remember

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Four: Forget To Remember**

Erin had driven back to her house in the big, green van that she had shared with Ian. Right before she had made it out of the parking lot at the school, Jason had come up to her, pounding his fists against the windshield and screaming something about Flight 180 six years ago. Erin didn't really listen; she felt she had no reason to.

As soon as she walked through the front door, her mother asked her how school was. Erin gave her a monotone answer of "never been better" and stomped up the stairs to her room. She threw her bag onto the floor next to her desk and slammed her bedroom door shut. After that, she collapsed onto her bed and buried her face in the pillow. She began to cry.

Crying was all that she seemed to have been doing since Ian's death. The night after the accident at WonderLand, the fact that he was gone didn't seem to have hit her yet. But the morning after, it slowly started sinking in. Ian's funeral was the true rude awakening for her.

Erin wasn't even sure what she was going to do now. Her whole life had been planned out, which happened to involve everything with her and Ian. Erin knew that she should probably still go to college for her major and get a job in journalism or illustration, but at the time, she didn't seem to have any motivation for that anymore. No motivation for _anything, _more like it.

Just momentarily before Erin had begun to fall asleep, the ringer on her cell phone went off. She groaned in annoyance and sat up, then bent forward and picked up her bag, taking her phone out of it. She flipped it open and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Erin," it was Jason.

"What do you want?" Erin asked in an annoyed tone.

"Look, I know you don't want to hear me out, but please," said Jason.

Erin knew she had no way out of this. Jason would just continue to harass her until some divine force stopped him. "Okay, Jason," said Erin, giving in, "What?"

"This is gonna sound crazy," said Jason, "But I did some research on your... premonition... before the accident that night," he paused, "And I found out some pretty crazy stuff. You see, it turns out that six years ago, there was this high school French class that was to go on a trip from New York to Europe, and this kid freaked out and had a premonition, just like you did."

"And your point is?" asked Erin.

"I'm not done yet!" said Jason. "Well, after that kid freaked out, seven people got off the plane, Flight 180. It crashed right after lift off, just like that kid imagined it would."

Erin sighed, "Jason, it's just a mere coincidence."

"I just thought I should have told you," said Jason. "But that's not the end of it. Everyone who got off that plane began dying in weird freak accidents about a month or two after the plane crash. And they died in the order that they would have if they had stayed on the plane."

"So what are you implying?" asked Erin. "So, you mean that Lewis is just going to drop dead all of a sudden within the next two minutes or two days, and then Ashlyn and Ashley are going to O.D on make-up or something? And I suppose some girl's going to shoot Frankie for harassing her?"

"Erin!" said Jason. "I'm serious!"

"Okay," said Erin, dropping her smart remarks for the time being, "So, if this _is _the case, is there any way that someone can... avoid death at all costs?"

"Yes," Jason answered, "As a matter of fact, there is. The only way any of those people survived a second time is if they were skipped or if one of them had a baby or something. Or maybe suicide, that's a likely theory."

"Fuck you, Jason," said Erin, hanging up on him. She flung her cell phone over her shoulder and it landed on her pillow.

She rummaged through her bag for her diploma. Upon finding it, she also found Wendy's camera. _Well, _thought Erin, _I might as well get these pictures off of here and turn them in to the yearbook team __tomorrow. _She sat at her desk and started up her computer. After logging on, she plugged the camera into the USB port and began to upload the files.

At first, she didn't notice anything strange. Just random pictures of the McKinley High seniors, one of Julie and her two friends (Julie was flipping off the camera), but the one that caught Erin's attention was a group picture of her and some of her friends from school. In it was Erin herself, Ian, Rouge, Chester, Danny and some of the other metalheads and punk freaks. Most of them had died on the Devil's Flight, aside from Violet Jay, Wyatt Robinson, Tarver Gray, and Patsy Tyler, all of whom did not even get in line for the Devil's Flight.

They were all standing in front of it, however, and right above Ian's head was a highlighted part of the Devil's Flight, almost exactly where the broken piece of track was. Rouge was standing in front of Ian, Chester beside her, and another part of the track was highlighted between the two of them.

_Oh my God, _thought Erin, _that's how they died. On the rollercoaster. _There was no way possible that a glare in the angle or even a glitch in the camera itself could produce those highlighted parts of the broken track. It was something more.

Erin jumped out of her chair and dived onto her bed. She picked up her cell phone and quickly dialed Jason's cell phone number. It rang a few times before Jason picked up.

"Hello?"

"Jason!" said Erin. "I'ts me, Erin!"

"Okay, so you're _not _wanting to kill me now?" asked Jason in a sarcastic voice.

"Jason, this is serious!" said Erin.

"Well, what is _this _you are speaking of?" asked Jason.

"Do you have Lewis's cell phone number?" asked Erin.

There was a pause. "I--I don't know," said Jason, "I'll have to check. I know I have it somewhere unless he changed it..."

"Okay," said Erin, "Just... just call me back if you find it, okay?"

"Wait," said Jason, "Any reason why you need his number?"

Erin thought for a moment. Should she tell him or not? "Jason," she started, "do you remember what you told me earlier about Flight 180 and all that?"

"Yeah," answered Jason, "Look, I'm sorry if I freaked you out, but it was just an explanation." He laughed a little, "It's probably just a coincidence, just like you said."

Lewis's picture came up on Erin's computer screen. He was playing one of the "strong man" games at the amusement park. It looked as if the weight was coming down on top of his head.

"Jason," said Erin, "Where did Lewis say he was going for the summer?"

"I think he said the Sultan's training camp," said Jason.

"When was he planning on leaving?" asked Erin.

"Hmm... I think he already left," answered Jason. "Yeah, he did. Remember, he got his diploma just a few days after the accident. Said he wanted to get as much training in as possible for the summer. Ya know, weights, excercise, things like that..."

The light from a lamp on Erin's desk flickered. Erin watched it. "Jason," she said, "Thanks for that."

"No problem," said Jason. "Still want me to call you if I find Lewis's number?"

"Yeah, sure," said Erin. Then she hung up.

Erin looked at her computer screen again. It was the picture of her and Ian taken at the Skill Shooter. She immediately began to relapse into sadness, but she quickly forgot about mourning when she heard a small crash noise beside her.

The light bulb in her lamp had burst for no apparent reason.


	5. Death Blooms

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Five: Death Blooms**

Lewis Romero had just finished his work-out routine. He had been so positive about joining the Sultans' football team and so optimistic about it, that he had gone as far as to get his diploma a week before graduation. Today was his sixth day spent at the Sultans training camp. Lewis had dreamed of being a pro football player since he was a little kid, and nothing could stop him now. Just to make his chances even better, he agreed to stay after his work-out sessions at night and tidy the weight room up.

Lewis got up off of the bench press and threw his towel over his shoulder. He walked past the stereo, which was playing Mudvayne's "Determined." Lewis liked to work out while listening to heavier music-- it got his blood pumping. The aspiring football player grabbed his duffle-bag and left the room, headed for the showers.

He took a cold shower, not only to cool off his body, but to get him in a more calm mind-set. After he got out of the shower, he got dressed in his usual attire, consisting of baggy jeans and his old McKinley High School football jersey. Lewis put his work out clothes in his duffle-bag and left the shower room, heading back into the weight room.

Lewis took his time to polish some of the weight machines and spray bleach on the dumbells and other weight training objects in order to kill any germs. He also inspected the machines and made sure that their chains and gears were working and oiled them if needed. He was far from being a neat freak, but helping out and cleaning the weight room could make him look good to the captains and coaches for the Sultans.

After he was done cleaning and inspecting the equipment, Lewis put his cleaning supplies back in a cabinet and locked it. Then he made his way around the small gym, putting back any misplaced weights. Sometimes people would leave weights on some of the equipment and not put them back, and Lewis knew that the head coordinator at Sultans was annoyed by this. He took a few fifty-pound weights off of one of the bench presses and returned them to the wall that they hung off of a few feet away. He replaced them with the default twenty-five-pounds on each side of the bar.

Upon continuing his inspection, Lewis noticed that some of the dumbells were missing from the shelf they were usually sitting on. He found four out of the five that were missing near a leg press and a chin-up bar protruding from the wall.

"Okay," Lewis said to himself, "How in the hell did those get all the way over here?" He picked up two of the dumbells and shook his head. "Looks like I'll be one of the smartest guys on the team." The teen laughed at his little inside joke and returned to the area for the remaining dumbells. After he returned those to their proper places, he continued his search for the last missing dumbell.

After five to ten minutes of searching, Lewis found what he was looking for. The little fifteen-pound weight was under one of the bench presses. "There's the little bastard!" Lewis said, laughing at his ignorance. "I should've found that one earlier!" He bent over and picked it up, then turned around, heading back towards the shelf. Lewis hummed the beat to the hed P.E song now playing on the stereo.

Lewis was about five feet away from the weight shelf when he tripped over the cord leading to the stereo. He cursed at himself as he fell forward, unable to stop himself. The cord didn't come out of the electrical outlet, but the impact caused the stereo to fall off of the bench it was sitting on. The search button had broken and it was now going through every music station possible, finally stopping at an oldies station playing The Lettermen's "Turn Around, Look At Me."

"Ow," groaned Lewis. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and then stood up. He cracked his back and walked forward a few feet, then bent over to pickup the dumbell he had dropped. He placed the weight back on it's shelf, then spun around on his heel to go back towards the corner where the leg press and chin-up bars were.

Someone had left one-hundred-pound weights on each side of the leg press. Lewis bent forward a little and loosened the metal wires keeping the weights from falling off. He picked up the one-hundred pound weight and carefully carried it back to it's spot on the wall. The ringer on his cell phone went off all of a sudden, momentarily scaring him, as he did not expect anyone to call him this late other than maybe his parents. This sudden irrational fear due to being the only one in the whole building at this hour of night, had caused him to jump and drop the weight on his foot.

"FUCK!" Lewis screamed in agony as he fell to his knees. He clenched his teeth and tried to move the weight off of his foot. He could already tell that the impact had broken it. Lewis managed to get the weight off and he grabbed a hold of part of a military press to help himself stand up. He didn't realize it, but he had kept his weight against the machine; he had grabbed onto a handle on it.

The machine gave in and Lewis fell forward once more. He felt the chain on the weight machine scrape the side of his face and screamed out in pain. He knew immediately that he had hit part of the broken chain. Lewis layed on the ground beneath the military press, holding his hand against his face. He pulled his hand away and saw blood on his fingers. Breathing heavily, Lewis sat up. He grabbed hold of part of the machine and tried to pull himself to his feet.

Fortunately, Lewis made it up. He limped over towards his duffle-bag to get his cell phone to see who had called earlier, and to see if they could give him a ride to the hospital, or at least home.

Sure he was beyond angry about his foot being broken and not being able to play for the Sultans next year, more than likely, but at the moment, he was a little freaked out about how all the weight sets seemed to be out to get him tonight.

Lewis was a few feet away from the bench where his stuff was. Almost there. A little closer... A small crack noise was heard. Lewis's foot gave out on him. He fell to the side, being thrown off balance. He hit his head on a metal bar on his way down. He heard a cracking noise above him and saw shelf of weights above him shaking.

He screamed and tried to get out of the way, but the shelf broke before he could do anything more than roll over and try to crawl away. Lewis had been crushed by over a thousand pounds of weights and metal shelfing combined, but he had finally died when a two-hundred-pound weight had hit him in the head, crushing his skull.

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Erin watched from behind a big oak tree as the preacher said his vows at Lewis's funeral. Erin and Lewis were never 'friends' but Erin felt bad that he had died. She didn't exactly want to be seen there, and she didn't want any attention, so she took refuge behind the tree. As she saw people clearing out, she made her way towards Ian's headstone in the back corner of the cemetary, in the shade of two beautiful birch trees.

The goth girl kneeled down in the soft, summer grass next to Ian's marble grave marker. She reached out and placed her hand on top of the smooth stone and then fingered the engravement on it. _Ian, I __miss you so much. I've never hurt this bad in my entire life... I need you back..._

She was broken out of her thoughts by the sound of her cell phone. She answered it. It was Jason.

"Where are you at?" he asked.

"I'm with Ian," was Erin's answer.

Jason had found her a few minutes later and he sat down next to her. "Were you here the whole time?"

Erin nodded.

"I could've got you a good spot," said Jason.

"I know," said Erin. "I just didn't want to be around people."

"Oh," was all Jason could say.

Both teens were silent for few moments. Then Erin reached inside her bag and pulled out a stack of papers. "Jason," she said, "I've been thinking about what you told me a few nights ago, and I think that that's what might be happening here."

"Erin," said Jason, "I feel real bad about what happend to Ian and Wendy and well, everyone, but that's just a myth. I was probably just franticly looking for an answer because I was so torn up about Wendy, and I still am, but--"

Erin shoved a picture of Abe Lincoln in Jason's hands. "See this?" she asked. Jason nodded, a confused look on his face. "See the line up by his forehead? That's where he was shot and killed, where the bullet was found later, even though there was no trace of an exit wound. That was the last picture ever taken of Lincoln before he died."

"Erin," said Jason. He leaned a little closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "They're just pictures--"

Erin showed him another one. It was a picture of a building with the shadow of a plane on it. "See the plane's shadow? And the road sign in the corner? 180? Well, the shadow, where it's at in this picture, that's exactly where Flight 180 crashed."

"Okay, Erin," said Jason, "Do you have any more?"

Erin showed him the picture of herself, Ian, and their friends in the group photo taken in front of the Devil's Flight. "It was the last picture taken of everyone before they got on it. Everyone who died on the rollercoaster is on the side with the highlighted tracks," Erin explained.

"Didn't you and Ian have another picture taken?" asked Jason.

He was handed the picture taken at the Skill Shooter booth. There was a poster advertising the Devil's Flight behind Ian that read "Will you survive the DEVIL'S FLIGHT?"

"Does Lewis have one, too?" asked Jason.

"Yeah." Erin looked through the stack of papers and found Lewis's picture. It was the one where he was at the Strong Man game and it was taken right before the weight went up, but it looked as if the weight was coming down on top of his head.

"That's how he died, isn't it?" asked Jason. "I read it in the paper. They said his skull was crushed by a weight or something. Freak accident at the Sultan's Gym..." He paused. "So who's next?"

"In the premonition," said Erin, "Ashlyn and Ashley."

"We'll check their picture later," said Jason. "I just have to let this sink in right now..."

"All of this weird stuff's been happening to us since the accident," said Erin. "Why us? Why _me_? Why couldn't it have been anyone else on that trip?" She felt a tear run down her cheek.

Jason found this as a good time to tell her something that's been on his mind for a while. "This is crazy, but ever since the accident, I've been hoping I'd at least feel some kind of presence, like Wendy's spirit. I haven't found it yet. Maybe when you die, that's just it. You're dead." He looked at Erin.

"I was kind of hoping the same thing, Jay." That was the first time Erin had ever called him that.

"Well, have you felt any presence or anything?" asked Jason.

Erin slowly nodded and took a deep breath.

"Do you think it's Ian?" asked Jason.

"No," said Erin. "This presence... it's cold... and scary... it's the exact opposite of how Ian made me feel. It's like an aura of impending doom... and it has never went away since... that night..."

They looked up as a gust of wind rattled the overhead branches of trees around them. Some of the leaves fell off and fluttered to the ground.

Erin let her guard down upon reading the engravement on Ian's headstone once more. She had begun to cry once more, her sobs racking her small shoulders. She hugged her knees to her chest and closed her eyes, not wanting to look at anything.

Jason wasn't sure what to do. He knew exactly how she felt. He used to be best friends with Ian, just like Erin and Wendy, and Wendy was his girlfriend. Jason knew how much Erin was hurting. He scooted a little closer to her and pulled her into an embrace.


	6. Ash to Ashes, Dust to Dust

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Six: Ash to Ashes, Dust to Dust**

The night of Lewis's funeral, Erin couldn't sleep at all. She had a bad feeling about everything these days. That feeling... that presence... it never went away. Ever since the rollercoaster crash, a cold, foreshadowing feeling had been with her. She had felt that entity the same night that Lewis had died. It was like she could _feel _death strike it's unsuspecting victims.

All throughout the night, Erin would fall asleep for an hour or two, but then she'd wake up in a cold sweat. It was always the same nightmare, too: The premonition she had before the Devil's Flight had crashed. It always ended in the same exact place: right before she hit the ground. The only thing different about each dream was that she woke up in a different position every time.

Morning had come within mere hours. The alarm clock went off. 7:00 A.M. Erin lazily rolled over and hit the snooze button. She looked up at the ceiling, knowing that the sick feeling to her stomach was to return within a few more minutes. The only place she ever felt safe when she knew she couldn't be with Ian was her dreams, and now, even they were no longer her sanctuary.

Instead of dreams of traveling the world, her marriage to Ian, and total oddities, Erin's dreams were haunted by that premonition.

Erin knew she was probably going to be fired from Build It. Her boss had laid her off for the past two weeks because of what had happened with Ian and the rollercoaster and all, but she was supposed to have gone back to work Friday. Today was Monday. _Today I guess I'll go in and __tell Osama Bin Supervisor that I quit. Yeah, he can't fire me because I quit, _Erin thought as she sat up and stretched.

She was supposed to meet up with Jay later and show him the rest of the pictures. But first, Erin had promised she would hang out with Julie. Erin got up off of her bed and walked over to her desk. She sat down and turned on the computer monitor. She clicked on the file for the yearbook photos. Skimming through them, she soon found a few possible pictures for what may end up being the death of Ashlyn and Ashley, along with Frankie Cheeks and a few others.

The picture of the Ashes was really awkward. They were both holding a giant inflateable palm tree that they had won at a squirt gun booth. The bottom corner of the picture was glaring red, like heat of some kind, maybe a fire. But of course, at an amusement park, where would there be a fire? _At a rollercoaster crash..._

The other pictures the girls were in didn't seem to give any clues. Either they were just in the background or they had a plain background behind them. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

Frankie's was a little weird. The picture looked like it was supposed to be of some girl's butt, and Frankie was in the background standing in front of a fan; it looked as if his head was going to get chopped up by it.

The pictures were starting to scare Erin a bit. She tried to clear her mind of unpleasant thoughts and went to get ready for the day.

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Ashley Freud and Ashlyn Halperin entered the tanning salon just like any other time. The last time they had tanned was graduation day, about a week ago. It was a rainy, damp, depressing day and the girls wanted to liven it up. They weren't too close with any of the kids that had died on the Devil's Flight, but they _did _feel sorry for them and their families and friends.

Ashley set her drink down on the counter and rank the small bell. A 'ding' was heard throughout the near deserted tanning salon. No one came to the call. "It's like this like every time we come here," complained Ashley, "That dude is like always busy..."

'That dude,' as in Yuri, the owner of the tanning salon, was currently out in the back of the building on an 'important call' on his cell phone. The two girls saw him open the door and hold up hisv index finger, mouthing the words 'one moment please' to them, before taking a tube of tanning lotion and sticking it in the bottom of the door, so he wouldn't get locked out.

"Have you seen Jason Wise or Erin Ulmer lately?" asked Ashley out of the blue.

"No, why?" asked Ashlyn, taking a drink of her slushie.

"Just wondering," said Ashley, "If I was either of them, I'd be, like totally going insane. I mean, especially if I was Erin Ulmer. I heard that she was engaged to Ian McKinley."

"Aw," said Ashlyn, "That must really be bothering her. I feel kinda sorry for picking on her back in middle school, now."

Ashley nodded in agreement. "Me too."

The back door opened and Yuri came in, slamming his cell phone shut.

"Was it your boss again?" asked Ashley.

The man nodded, "Yes. Bat out of hell for sure," he chuckled and smiled at the girls. Then his cell phone rang once more. "Shit." He looked at it, "It's her." He turned to go out the back door again, but then noticed Ashley's drink out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, no drinks this time, chuck 'em," he said.

Ashley smiled in a sickeningly sweet way and picked up both hers and Ashlyn's drinks and held them over the trash can, dropping one in. As soon as Yuri was outside once more, Ashley held her drink back up and took a long sip.

"Come on, Ashley," said Ashlyn, "You know what happened last time. We spilled it and we had to clean it up, and I hate cleaning!"

Ashley mocked her with a long loud slurp. "But we won't spill it this time." With that said, both girls headed into one of the tanning rooms, that had two tanning beds in it and a shelf above one with many old pop and rock CD's on it.

Ashlyn took off her jacket and put it on the coat rack, then dropped her back next to it. She began to undress herself and upon turning around noticed that Ashley was still wearing her underwear. "Ashley," she laughed a little, "What's up with the panties?"

"Simon says he gets off on tan lines," Ashley said with a giggle.

"Oh," said Ashlyn, "Good point." She paused for a moment. "Shit, I forgot my iPod!"

"Sucks for you, bitch," said Ashley, rubbing tanning lotion on her legs and arms. She took one last drink of the slushie before setting it back on the table by a small stereo, above a small electric box for the tanning beds. Ashley walked over to the thermostat on the wall and set the temperature for the tanning beds to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ashlyn stood up on a chair and looked at the shelf of CDs. "Are we like the only cool people who come here or what?" she asked. "Britney Spears? NSYNC? They are like so '90s..."

She spotted a CD entitled 'Ultimate Party Hits' and grabbed it. She got off the chair and popped the CD into the stereo on a nearby table, and put it on track 5.

"Love this song!" said Ashlyn as she hooked some headphones into the stereo and climbed into the tanning bed. Ashley was already in hers.

The song, "Rollercoaster of Love" by the Ohio Players came on, and both girls sang along in a goofy manner. It had been a while since they had heard this one.

"Rollercoaster of love," sang Ashley.

"Say what?" Ashlyn sang back.

"Rollercoaster..."

They kept singing and barely noticed a rapid change in temperature. The perspiration from Ashley's drink had seeped over the edge of the table and was dropping onto the electric box, sending it from 230 to a dangerous 260 in mere seconds.

Ashlyn shifted uncomfortably in her tanning bed. She pulled one headphone out of her ear and shouted across the room to Ashley, who probably couldn't hear her anyway. "It's getting way too hot in here, huh?"

The girl put her headphone back in and tried to shrug off the matter of the heat. Meanwhile, the reading on the electric box read 310. Ashlyn wondered if Ashley noticed any, the song was still going on, right about halfway over...

"Rollercoaster of love... say what?"

All of a sudden, Ashlyn heard a faint crack and saw one in the top of the tanning bed's lid. She frowned and looked at it a little longer. The crack got bigger. "What the hell?" There were smaller cracks now spawning from the big one.

A thump noise was heard in the room and both girls took their headphones out and tried to lift up the lids to their tanning beds to see what had fallen. The lids wouldn't budge.

"Ashley!" screamed Ashlyn. "Can you get out?"

"No!" Ashley screamed back. "It's way too hot in this bed!"

Both girls fidgeted with the lids for a while, but soon they became too hot to touch. Small screams and whimpers of pain could be heard in the room and soon an explosion of broken glass and the slicing of flesh. The tanning beds had gotten so hot that the glass lining the insides of them had cracked and blown apart, and soon, the lightbulbs went, too. Ashley and Ashlyn screamed as loud as they could-- blood-curdling screams that could literally shatter glass.

The two girls were burned to death by the time anyone could finally get in to 'save' them...

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Erin and Jason walked through downtown McKinley and talked. Erin had told Jason about how she had quit her job at Build It earlier and Jason told her that Kevin and Carrie were both taking it easy before they had to go to college the following year. All mentionings of the 'incident' or the pictures were absent.

"So, Erin," said Kevin, pushing his hands into his pockets, "Not to bring up painful memories or anything, but were you and Ian engaged?" Erin turned away and Jason mentally punched himself.

"I mean," he said, "I just heard a while ago that you guys were engaged, and--"

"He asked me on my seventeenth birthday," answered Erin, "Back in October..."

"I'm sorry, Erin," said Jason, "I didn't mean to... you know..." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck and proceeded in walking down the sidewalk.

"It's okay, Jason, really," said Erin. She looked up and ahead of her, continuing her walk. "Ian was always there for me when no one else was. Without him, I probably wouldn't be here right now."

There was something Jason had wanted to ask her for a while, but he was a little hesitant about it. "Erin," said Jason, "I know this is really none of my business, but back in seventh and eighth grade, people used to say these... things... about you, and..."

"What kind of things?" asked Erin. "I mean, I probably didn't care, but still, I'm curious. I don't care what people think of me."

Jason looked away from her. "I don't know, there's no easy way to say this, but... I used to hear rumors that your parents beat you or something..."

Erin stopped. "Not my parents. My step-dad."

Jason felt something change in him. He was always somewhat friends with Erin, but hearing this somehow made him feel bad... "Wow, I don't know what to say... I'm--I guess--" He looked at Erin and shook his head. "Does he still... you know...?"

"No," said Erin, "Ian called child protective services on him, got him put in jail." She continued walking, Jason right beside her.

"Wow," said Jason, "Erin, I'm really sorry. Was it-- was it just in seventh grade or...?"

"Mom remarried when I was five, just a year after my real dad... well, he died of cancer..." Erin told Jason. Sure, thinking about her departed father and the poor substitute still hurt, but she really didn't see any harm in telling Jason. After all, that was a long time ago, and Jason _was _her friend. "That bastard always found something that I had done wrong," continued Erin.

"Well," said Jason, "I'm sure you never did anything that bad."

"I didn't," said Erin. "But one time, I tried running away and the cops caught me. They took me back home and everything seemed normal. But as soon as the cops left, I really got it. Mom never wanted to believe that he hurt me that bad... until Ian intervened."

"Erin," said Jason quietly, "Is that how you broke your wrist in eighth grade?"

The goth girl turned to him and nodded. "Yeah." She brushed a few strands of hair out of her face and then something caught her eye. "Hey, Jason," she said, pointing down the street, "Wasn't that where the tanning salon was?"

Jason shrugged. "I'm not big on tanning, but yeah..." He looked at Erin, then at the scene before him. "That's odd. I heard Ashley and Ashlyn talk about coming here today..."

Those words struck Erin like a lightning bolt. "When?"

"When what?" asked Jason.

"When did you hear them talking about going to the tanning salon?" asked Erin.

"Well, I was at the gas station yesterday and they were there, and ya know, I'm not much of an eavesdropper, but--"

Erin took off down the street, running at full speed.

"Shit," said Jason, starting to run after her. "Erin! Wait!"

Erin ran up to Yuri, the owner of the tanning salon, who was sitting in an ambulance, a look of pure terror on his face. "What happened?" asked Erin.

"Those poor girls..." said Yuri, a blank stare on his face.

"What?" asked Erin, feeling her heart beat speed up. "What girls? Who?"

"Those poor girls..." Yuri repeated himself. He looked at Erin and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her in closer to him. "I didn't do it," he said, looking into her emerald green eyes, fear in his own brown eyes. "I didn't kill those girls... it wasn't me! It was something else!" He let go of Erin and continued staring in front of himself, like nothing had happened.

Jason came up behind Erin. "Erin! What're you...?" He saw two bodies on gurneys getting hauled out of the wreckage of the burnt down tanning salon. "Oh no..."

"Hey!" came a voice from behind them. "What are you two kids doing here?" It was a police officer.

"We--just came to investigate," said Erin, shaking her head to get herself out of her own thoughts.

"Yeah," said Jason, nodding, "You see, a few friends of ours came here earlier today, and we were wondering--"

The police officer took off his glasses and folded them, shaking his head. "Ashley Freud and Ashlyn Halperin? They're dead."

Erin felt that overwhelming feeling wrench at her stomach again.

"They're dead," repeated the officer. "Burnt down with the building. All that was left was a couple of charred skeletons. Those poor kids, shame... For shame..."

Erin franticly looked from Yuri, sitting in a dazed stupor in the back of the ambulance to the police officer and Jason and to the burnt down building. She felt everything clouding her mind, and put a hand to her forehead. _I don't feel so good, _thought Erin, _what's happening to me? __What's happening to everyone?_

"Miss, are you okay?" asked the officer, noticing Erin's distress.

Erin took one look at the officer and fainted.


	7. World So Cold

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Seven: World So Cold**

_McKinley Times June 2005  
__Headline Story: Two Girls Burnt to Death in Freak Accident  
__Ashlyn Halperin and Ashley Freud, both seventeen and newly graduated high school seniors, __were pronounced dead at the scene at Phoenix Tanning Co. The owner, Yuri Kroenen, has __been in psychiatric evaluation, and so far, McKinley police suspect that he had nothing to do __with the accident. Also, faulty wiring may have been an issue and--_

Erin crumbled the newspaper up and tossed it across the room into the trash can. Shaking her head in disgust, she rolled over on her side and adjusted the blanket draped over her small form.

After fainting the previous day, Erin was taken to the hospital and stayed over-night for examinations. The doctor suspected Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but Erin gave him a smart ass remark and went home with Jason. The only reason she was trying to take it easy today was because Jason begged her to.

"Erin!" her mother called from the kitchen. "Are you feeling any better?"

The goth girl pulled the blanket over her head and groaned. "No!" She shouted. "I feel like shit!"

Her mother walked into the living room and sat down on the couch beside her. Erin felt her weight on the cushions and scooted over, not taking the blanket off of her head.

"Erin," said Mrs. Ulmer, "I know you've had it rough lately, but you're a high school grad and you'll be eighteen in a few months. Don't you think this is sort of childish?" She pulled the blanket off of her daughter and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me," snapped Erin. _What the hell makes you so motherly now? Where were you __when I REALLY needed you... _

Mrs. Ulmer removed her hand from her daughter's shoulder and watched her with a concerned look on her face. "What's wrong, honey?"

"What's wrong?" Erin answered in a cold voice. "Everything. You should know that."

"I know you miss Ian and all, but--"

Erin felt every ounce of rage she had bottle up inside start to explode. "You know what? You're right, I _do _miss Ian. But you know what else? Missing someone doesn't bring them back! Yeah, I still miss Dad, but missing him sure as fuck didn't bring him back and I've missed him since I was a little kid!" Erin stood there, her shoulders shaking, seething in rage at her mother.

Mrs. Ulmer shook her head and didn't take her eyes off of her daughter. "What's happened to you?"

"Reality," answered Erin.

"Erin, I miss your father, too," said her mother.

"Oh yeah?" asked Erin, feeling her anger start to climax. "You sure must have missed him. In fact, you missed him enough to re-marry some _sick fuck _who treated me, your _only daughter, _like shit!"

Her mother had tears in her eyes now. "Erin!" She stood up and stared her down. "I had no idea he ever--"

Erin closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Mom, you _knew _he beat me. I know you did."

"I would have stopped him if I knew what he did to you!" yelled Mrs. Ulmer.

"I know you saw my bruises, Mom," said Erin, starting to cry, "I know you heard me screaming when he beat me." Erin cast her gaze down at the floor and rubbed her arm. "_Ian _stopped him. _Ian_ knew what was going on." The girl looked up at her mother. "And he didn't even live here."

Mrs. Ulmer took a step forward and gently put her arms around Erin, pulling her into a reluctant embrace. Even though her mother stood against her, crying into her shoulder, all Erin could feel was an empty void growing in her heart. That void had first started when her father died when she was a little girl and it seemed to have disappeared for all those years. But it returned after her reason for living, Ian, was taken from her. Erin felt nothing at that moment, except that mysterious, empty void, and with it, the presence of morbid, terrifying death.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

_She heard the rollercoaster start and froze in her tracks. She whipped around and ran at full speed __towards the station, narrowly missing Jason and the manager, who both tried to grab her._

_"IAN!" Erin screamed, stopping as she saw the ride leave the station. She turned to the ride's operator __and started in on him. "WHY'D YOU PUSH THE BUTTON?! WHY'D YOU DO IT?! THEY'RE GOING __TO DIE!" _

_Once again, Erin felt the manager's arms go around her body and heard him screaming at people that __there was nothing to see and things like that to avoid even more confusion and chaos. Jason came __running into the station._

_"Hey!" yelled Jason. "Get off of her!" _

_The manager let go of Erin and then pointed a finger at Jason. "Both of you kids are coming with me." __He led them out a back door of the station and down a small flight of metal stairs. He grabbed Erin by __her forearm and led her down the stairs, Jason behind them._

_"Get off!" Jason yelled at the manager._

_They reached the bottom of the stairs. Erin was still hysterical and Jason was still very obviously __pissed off. _

_"Okay," said the manager, "What's your home phone number? I'm going to call your mom and have her __come pick you up and--"_

_The Devil's Flight derailed._

_The three people turned around._

_And a crash was heard as twisted metal and bodies hit the ground._

_"IAN!" screamed Erin as she collapsed to her knees in tears._

_"Erin," Erin heard a calm, soothing voice above all the wreckage. She looked around to see who __it was. _

_"Erin."_

The goth girl opened her emerald green eyes and looked around in a confused manner. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, stretching. She turned around and saw Jason sitting on the couch next to her. Startled at his presence, Erin pulled the blanket up against her chest and fell back against the couch, laughing a few minutes later at her stupidity.

"Did I scare you?" asked Jason.

"No," Erin laughed nervously, brushing stray hairs out of her face. "Just another... _dream..._ that's all."

"I just wanted to check up on you," said Jason.

"You don't have to hang around me if you don't want to," said Erin. "You still have Kevin and Carrie, you know."

Jason smiled. "Yeah, I know," he said. "But they're just... different... without Wendy. We were all a team, you know. It's like Wendy was what held us all together. I don't know..." He turned and looked at Erin, noticing she was still in her pajamas. "I see that you've been resting well. I suppose it's all on doctor's orders," he said sarcasticly.

Erin laughed, but gave him a serious remark. "Partially. It's not necessarily rest..." She looked down at her hands resting in her lap and messed around with the fabric of her blanket. "Everytime I fall asleep, it's always that same dream... The night the rollercoaster crashed..."

"Sorry," said Jason, not knowing what else to say.

All was silent for a moment or two. Jason would occasionally glance over at Erin and try to reassure her with a smile and a nod. She seemed so miserable without Ian. Erin and Ian. Ian and Erin. Pip and Zip. Zip and Pip. God, they were just meant to be. But meant to be couldn't happen now, could it? Jason was reminded by the hole left in his heart after Wendy's death upon noticing the empty look in Erin's eyes.

"It's not gonna be the same ever again, is it?" asked Jason.

Erin turned to look at him. "What?"

"Everything," Jason sighed.

"I know what you mean," Erin said in a quiet voice. "Which is why we've got to try and save everyone who's left."

"Who's next in this theory of yours?" asked Jason, not looking in his friend's direction.

"Frankie Cheeks," answered Erin, "Why?"

"Just wondering," replied Jason. "And after him?"

"Kevin and Carrie," Erin saw Jason cringe a tiny bit upon hearing this. "Then it's those two girls who switched places with them. And then us."

"Do we have pictures on there?" asked Jason. He knew they did, but he wasn't sure if he had the guts to see them yet. It wasn't everyday that you could see your own death.

Erin nodded slowly. "Yep. About every senior at McKinley has pictures from that night.

Obviously, that includes us. Why? Do you want to see your picture or something?"

This frightened Jason and he almost fell off the couch. "What? Are you kidding? I don't want to see my picture!" He paused. "I mean, well... I'll look at it when I have to."

"Okay," was Erin's only answer.

Jason looked at her and said in a dead serious tone, "It's nothing embarassing, is it? I mean, there's nothing up my ass, is there?"

Erin tried to suppress a smile and just raised an eyebrow.

"I'm serious!" said Jason.

"No," said Erin, "And no, you're not getting run over or anything, either."

"Oh, okay," said Jason. "But what about Frankie's picture? After all, you said he's next."

Then Jason followed Erin up to her room and they got out the stack of pictures from Senior Night.


	8. A Small Killing

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Eight: A Small Killing**

"Do you think he could be just sitting in the living room, watching TV, and the ceiling fan just goes bonkers and lands on his head?" asked Jason.

Erin laughed. "No," she said. "Be serious."

"I am," answered Jason, taking another long, hard look at Frankie's picture. It was the picture of the 'camel toe' with Frankie himself in the background. The fan was still pointing directly at his head.

"Where else are fans located?" Jason asked, more to himself than to Erin.

"Let's see," said Erin, "we've tried everyday household items... maybe it's not the fan."

"Yeah," said Jason, "but what else could it be?"

"I don't know," said Erin, "but we'd better find out quick. I don't think Death's going to wait to kill him just because we can't figure out how he dies." She turned to Jason. "Have you heard from him lately?"

"No," said Jason, "but I saw him on my way here. I was just turning off of Main Street onto your road when I saw him outside at his mom's house. Looked like he was reshingling the roof or something. Had a ladder out and stuff."

"Do you think we should go and investigate?" asked Erin. "You know, warn him?"

Jason shrugged. "Maybe. But you know and I know that he'll think we're nuts."

"It's worth a try," said Erin.

"Are you sure you're feeling up for it?" asked Jason.

"Yeah," said Erin, "I'm fine. I'll be fine. After all, we're just driving down the road to Frankie's mom's. What's the worst that could happen?"

Jason thought for a moment. "A plane carrying dozens of box fans falls on Frankie's head and we have to watch as he is inhumanely killed and we get to dodge fans, even though that's not how we die anyway... right?" Jason smiled at Erin and she jokingly punched him in the arm. "What'd I say?"

00000000000000000000000000000000

The sound of a hammer hitting wood was heard as Erin and Jason got out of Jason's truck and walked down the driveway of the Cheeks residence. This was the first time either of them had actually been on the property, but it was common knowledge to most in McKinley where Frankie Cheeks lived.

"Hey!" called Jason. "Frankie!" He walked across the lawn, Erin close behind him, holding the small stack of pictures against her chest. "Frankie! It's Jason Wise! We need to talk!"

The hammering ceased and Jason saw Frankie's bald head appear from over the rooftop.

"What do you want?" called Frankie. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Just get down here!" shouted Jason. "We need to talk!"

Frankie rolled his eyes and soon was down on the ground walking towards Jason and Erin. "What's the deal?" he asked.

"We just came by to see what you were up to," lied Jason. Frankie gave him a suspicious glare, but didn't say anything.

"If it's about those Ashes," said Frankie, "It wasn't me. I already got hauled in for questioning--"

"No," Erin interrupted, "It's not about them."

Frankie's accusing glare was replaced by a relieved smile. "Good," he said, laughing nervously, "I just feel... bad... about what happened to them."

"Well, it's not your fault," said Jason, finding Frankie's behavior odd.

"Impress Frankie Cheeks," said Frankie, "that's always what most girls probably think. Get your hair done. Wear the latest perfume and fashion... _Tan..._"

"It's not your fault," repeated Jason.

Erin hesitantly moved the papers around, but gave Jason a confused look. "We-- we just wanted to... show you something," said Erin, glancing towards the pictures.

Frankie smirked and reached towards her, grabbing the papers from her. Erin gasped, feeling his hand slightly brush up against her chest, and with this Frankie earned a disapproving look from Jason.

"Just look at the goddamn pictures," snapped Jason. "You okay?" he whispered to Erin. She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What's with the pictures?" asked Frankie. "School's been out for a while and those were all for the yearbook." Frankie saw one of the 'camel toe' and smiled in a perverted manner.

"Look a little closer at some of those, will you?" asked Erin.

Frankie smiled and winked at her. "Sure thing, babe," he said. "Hmm... let's see... pictures... rides... random fucks from my old high school..." He looked at Erin and Jason. "I don't get it. Is this some kind of optical illusion? I Spy? What is it?"

"Look at the group pic with Ian and everyone," said Jason. Frankie looked quizzically at the photograph. "See the highlighted track? That's where it crashed." He then showed Frankie the pictures of Lewis, Ashley, and Ashlyn, and explained them.

"So what you're saying is that you and Gothika here showed up to tell me that I'm going to die?" asked Frankie, sarcastically. He picked up a stack of shingles and held them on his shoulder. He began his walk around the side of the house and put a foot on the ladder. "This is such B.S."

"No!" said Erin. "You've GOT to believe us! You're next!"

"I'm next?" asked Frankie in a high falsetto voice. "Really? What if all this is just pure coincidence?"

"Well what if it's not?" asked Erin.

"You're trippin'!" Frankie accused and climbed up the ladder, setting the stack of shingles up on the rooftop and then sitting at the top of the ladder, looking down at Erin and Jason.

"Look, Frankie," said Jason, getting annoyed with his snide remarks and bad attitude, "If you just think about all that's happened so far, it makes perfect sense..."

Jason continued trying to explain things to Frankie, but Erin was soon zoned out upon feeling a mysterious, cold breeze blow through her hair. She looked towards a small pole in the yard, holding wind chimes and watched the little metal characters move around in the wind. She began looking for anything that even remotely resembled a fan or a blade.

Frankie hopped down off the ladder after he had about three more steps to go and he held up a handful of twigs and leaves from the gutter. "Jason, Erin, you guys are just on smack or something."

He walked over to a woodchipper sitting by a box of tools and flipped the switch to 'on.'

"I know it must hurt watching your lovers and friends all... disappear like that," said Frankie, dropping the debri into the machine, grinding it into sawdust. "It must hurt like hell," he yelled over the whirring of the woodchipper. Frankie stood up and looked at Jason and Erin. "You must be desperate for answers, so therefore you turn to paranormal phenomena..."

Jason put a hand to his forehead in annoyance, "Yeah, Frankie," he said, "We miss Wendy and Ian, but we're serious."

"Jason!" whispered Erin, pointing to a fan in an open second floor window that she recently spotted. "Up there, in the window!"

Frankie looked around, confused, and then saw the fan. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "Is that it? Do I get chopped up into bits?" He began climbing the ladder and when he got high enough, he reached over towards the fan with one arm, his other hand latched securely onto the ladder.

"Frankie!" yelled Erin. "Get down!"

"Frankie, you idiot!" Jason screamed.

"What?" asked Frankie. "It's in the house, how could I get killed _out here_?" He laughed in a mocking way and hit the side of the house, causing both Erin and Jason to jump.

"Frankie!" screamed Jason. "Stop it!"

Erin felt the cold wind whipping around her body once more. It was June, so this was no ordinary breeze...

A bolt popped off one of the rungs on the ladder.

"Frankie!" screamed Erin. "Get off the ladder!"

"Why?" asked Frankie, climbing up a few more steps, perching himself at the top like a big bird.

Jason shook his head. "Frankie..." Erin heard him mutter 'asshole' under his breath...

"Look at me!" screamed Frankie, standing up and spreading his arms out. "I'm at the top, baby! Frankie Cheeks! And he ain't going nowhere!"

The rung he was standing on lost another bolt...

"Frankie Cheeks! King of Pain!"

"Frankie! You dumbass!" shouted Jason.

"Franklin S. Cheeks! Woo!"

The rung started to tilt...

"FRANKIE CHEEKS! IS NOT DYING!"

"YOU FUCKER!"

"I'M BEAUTIFUL! I'M--" Frankie screamed as he fell sideways and the rung on the ladder gave way. "HOLY SHIT!"

"FRANKIE!" Erin and Jason screamed in unison.

Frankie screamed in terror as he dangled off the side of the ladder, his left foot still caught in the rung. "I think my ankle broke!" screamed Frankie. "Get me down!"

Erin and Jason stood there in terror, afraid and unsure of what to do.

"Call 911!" screamed Frankie. "Mom's not home! Dad's at work! GET ME DOWN, GODDAMNIT!"

"Frankie!" screamed Erin, "Just try to stay calm! Just try to--"

The other side of the rung gave way and Frankie screamed, along with Erin and Jason...

Frankie fell face first into the woodchipper below, which was left on.

Erin and Jason both screamed, partially out of horror, partially out of disgust upon hearing bone fragments and brains fly out of the machine and onto them and the ground before them.

000000000000000000000000000

Jason and Erin walked out of the police station and out towards Jason's truck. They had been both been given a change of clothes and had their original stuff in bags. Jason hastily unlocked the driver's side of the truck and hit the button on the inside of the door to unlock the passenger's side.

"Did I do something?" Erin asked in a meek voice.

Jason turned to her, watching her carefully sit down next to him in the passenger seat. "Hmm?"

"What did I do to deserve this?" asked Erin.

"You didn't do anything," said Jason.

"Why me?" asked Erin, feeling a teardrop trickle down the side of her face. "Why did _I _have to have that premoniton?"

Jason closed the door and stared out the windshield. After a moment's silence, he turned his head to face Erin. "Hey," he said, "Don't cry."

"Why?" asked Erin. "There's nothing for me to hide. There's no reason why I should be strong anymore."

Without even realizing it, Jason reached out and grabbed Erin's hand. "Be strong. I know Ian would want you to. Wendy would, too." He faced her once more. He noticed the confused look on her face and quickly pulled his hand back. "Sorry about that." Erin said nothing. Jason put the keys in ignition.

They drove silently back to Erin's house.


	9. Children Learning the Secret Knock

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Nine: Children Learning the Secret Knock**

Usually hot showers calmed Erin and helped her relieve stress. Either a nice, hot shower, chilling out and listening to some music, or watching a nice movie was usually the trick to getting her to calm down. The main thing that used to make her feel so secure and comfortable and actually took her stress away completely was Ian. And Erin knew that she could never have him back, and she knew that the terrible truth was that no one could ever replace him.

Erin put her arm against the wall in the shower and leaned forward a little. She looked down and watched the water droplets cling to her pale skin, then fall to the floor and go down the drain. The soothing feeling of the hot water pouring down on her back had helped relieve some of the tension in her muscles, but nothing could help erase the tension and pain in her heart and in her mind.

She had watched almost all of her friends die. She had seen some people, not necessarily friends, die twice. Once in the premontion, and for real. She didn't quite see Lewis, Ashley, or Ashlyn die, but she watched Frankie die. Even though she found him to be merely a sleazeball pervert, she felt bad about his death, and she tried everything to erase that image from her mind. More than anything, watching that rollercoaster car fly over the edge, with Ian in it, was what killed her hopes and dreams and sedated her emotions.

Erin turned the water off and pulled the shower curtain back, stepping out onto a towel and pulling a larger one off the shelf and wrapping it around her body. She ran a hand through her long, red hair and debated on whether or not she should dry it or not. Making her decision, she dried the rest of her body off and changed into a pair of AC/DC themed PJ pants and a Mudvayne tank top. She blow-dried her hair about halfway before walking across the hallway and into her room.

To her surprise, she saw Jason sitting on her bed. He looked up at her for a split second, but quickly turned his head away. Erin stood in the doorway, her hand resting on her hip, her other messing around with her hair. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Oh," said Jason, fidgeting with the hem of his t-shirt for a minute, "I came by about a half hour ago to see if you wanted to go hang out or something... Your mom said you were in the shower and she told me to just wait in your room, and--" He paused and then laughed at the awkwardness of the situation. "Wow, I couldn't have picked a worse time to show up, huh?"

Erin smiled and then walked over to the bed and sat down next to him. "No," she said, "You're fine. It's cool."

Jason couldn't help but watch her closely. He had never really been as close to Erin as Wendy was; Ian was a good friend of his, though. Jason could smell the shampoo Erin had used and was immediately reminded of Wendy. Lavender was her favorite scent. Jason couldn't help but wonder if little things like this ever reminded Erin of Ian.

He watched Erin like a hawk as she sat there beside him. She wasn't that different from Wendy, and Jason now understood why they had been pretty close friends. _She looks so sad... _thought Jason, _I know what you're going through, Erin... I'm here for you... _He looked away from the girl for a few seconds and looked around her room at the many posters of hard rock and metal bands adorning the walls. Jason glanced back at Erin and couldn't help what he thought.

_Wow, __she is beautiful... _Jason caught himself and wanted to knock himself out. _What am I thinking?! Just because she acts a little... okay, a lot like Wendy, doesn't mean she __IS Wendy! I can't be falling for her that way! _Jason blushed a little after he noticed Erin giving him an odd look. "Sorry," he said. "It's just... I don't know..."

"It's okay," said Erin, still confused, but just brushing off the oddity of Jason's behavior.

"Kevin and Carrie are next," said Jason, trying to start a conversation and keep Erin from even getting the chance to think that he may have been checking her out.

"I know they're next," said Erin. She got up and walked towards her desk, returning seconds later with the stack of pictures; the stack of clues. She sat down next to Jason again and flipped through the photos. She accidently let go of them and they slid in a heap to the floor.

"Shit," mumbled Erin, bending over to pick them up. Jason helped.

Jason bent over and picked up a few pictures. He glanced at Erin and then to the picture he was holding. It was one of Wendy that Carrie had taken at the food court. Wendy was smiling and Jason knew that it was because of a couple secret jokes he had told her that night. Jason felt his heart break in two, knowing he'd never see that smile in person ever again.

Erin noticed what Jason was looking at and she quietly sat back down.

"You know I was going to ask her to marry me," said Jason. He looked forward, at nothing. "I was going to propose to her after graduation."

Erin wasn't sure what to say. She knew _exactly _how that felt. She nervously felt the metal of the ring on her left hand and looked away from Jason. "I'm sorry, Jay," said Erin, "I really am."

Jason nodded and handed Erin the pictures back. "Wendy was the first girl I've ever felt that way about," said Jason. "It kills me everyday knowing I'll never see her again. All I have now are memories and pictures."

"Thinking about Ian hurts me, too," said Erin. "I miss him so much that it takes everything I've got left to just not break down completely. I just want to give up somedays, you know? Ian was all that I've ever loved and all that I was living for. So now, it's like I'm not living for anything."

Another awkward silence. Once again, Jason couldn't keep his eyes off Erin. He wanted to comfort her, to just let her know that she wasn't alone in this. Jason knew that he had Kevin and Carrie, still, but he wanted his Wendy back. She was his. As weird as it sounded, Jason wanted to be with Erin, at least until all these tragic events cleared up. Jason saw a reflection of himself in Erin and he wanted to fix himself. He wanted to fix Erin, too.

_There's no way this is happening, _thought Jason, finding it harder and harder to not just pull Erin into an embrace and tell her that everything would be okay. He wanted to hold her and comfort her and he wanted her to return the favor. _I'm falling for a girl who I hardly know. __I'm falling for one of my girlfriend's closest friends. _Jason knew that Erin would probably never be interested in him that way, but he still just wanted her to know how he was starting to feel.

_She's beautiful. _That one thought kept intruding into Jason's thoughts. Jason felt guilty because of it and pleaded for it to leave him alone. _No! She's off limits! It's too soon to start anything __anyway! Especially with Erin... she's always been a friend... just a friend... _He took in Erin's scent, _lavender, _and Wendy's face kept popping up into his mind. _She's not Wendy! She's not!_

Jason stared straight ahead, focusing on nothing. He couldn't help but glance out of the corner of his eye at Erin, who was still sitting beside him. She was going through the stack of pictures, trying to find Kevin and Carrie's. _I can't help it... _thought Jason. _I've never realized __how gorgeous she is... behind that rough exterior... _Jason couldn't help it. He reached out and gently grabbed Erin's wrist. Her skin was smooth and soft, and Jason was as careful as possible with her.

Erin looked at Jason, confusion all over her face. "Jason, what's up with you? You're acting weird."

"Nothing," lied Jason. _She's not Wendy... _"Did you find Kev and Carrie's pics?"

"Yeah," said Erin. "They're right here."


	10. All Work and No Play

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Ten: All Work and No Play**

Jason and Erin sat in Erin's room trying to figure out Kevin and Carrie's pictures. They each had a seperate one and there was one where they were standing together. The picture of Carrie alone was just one where she was holding up some stuffed animals Kevin had won for her; the only odd things in the background were other prizes hanging off of some of the booths. Kevin's picture didn't seem to have any clue whatsoever; it was taken by Wendy when she was goofing around with him and the flash was all overexposed and out of focus. In the picture featuring both Kevin and Carrie, they were standing in front of a water fountain with some fireworks in the background.

"Nothing?" asked Jason in a hopeful voice.

"Nope," answered Erin.

Jason put the pictures down. "Did you realize that Frankie's picture didn't have a clue?"

Erin nodded.

Sighing, Jason put a hand to his forehead. "This is hopeless."

"Come on," said Erin, "We can beat this, I _know _it."

"Alright, whatever you say," said Jason, flipping through his stack of photos again. He stopped and looked at one. "Hey, Erin," he said, "did Frankie have any other pictures?"

"Not that I'm aware of," said Erin as she put down her stack of photos to look at what Jason had found.

"Well it looks like he's got another picture," said Jason.

They both looked at the photograph. Frankie was on the Wacky Ladder and it looked as if he was falling off. Both teens looked in shock at the picture, neither one saying anything for a few minutes.

"He fell off the ladder..." Jason said in a quiet voice. He looked in the bottom corner of the picture and cringed. There was a flyer for a band called WoodChipper... "This is just wrong..." Jason put the picture down and let himself fall backwards onto the bed. He stared at the ceiling, trying to imagine what life would be like if Wendy and Ian were still around. If that night had never happened.

Erin soon laid down next to Jason, looking from him to the ceiling every few minutes. She folded her hands on her stomach and sighed. "We couldn't save Frankie," she said, breaking the awkward silence. "Do you think we'll be able to save Kevin and Carrie?"

"I don't know," answered Jason, putting his hands behind his head, "I hope so. I'd crack for sure if something happened to them." He glanced at the clock. 9:36 P.M. "I know they're going to the rec center tomorrow. Kev called me and told me earlier. I told them I'd meet up with them for old time's sake." Jason turned to Erin. "You wanna come?"

Erin thought for a moment. "Sure," she finally answered, "Besides, they're next, and we have to do everything we can to save them." Jason nodded in agreement. "Jason, I really don't understand why," said Erin, "but I feel better about all this when I'm with you."

Jason looked once more in her direction. "Maybe it _is _best that we stick together," he replied, "especially considering that we're the only ones who actually have an idea of what's going on."

Once again, that awkward silence broke out between the two of them. Jason felt a little less comfortable than Erin simply because on top of the fact that they were both tired, Jason was still afraid that he was falling for her. Every few minutes, Jason would look in Erin's direction and watch her until she noticed and looked at him.

"Hey, Jay," said Erin in a tired voice.

"Yeah?" asked Jason.

"What are you going to do now, you know, since we're out of high school and stuff?" asked Erin.

Jason thought for a moment. "Hmm... I'm not sure. Wendy and I were going to get engaged after graduation and after that we planned on going to college together."

"Really?" asked Erin. "That's what Ian and I had planned." She smiled. "Except for the fact that we were already engaged." She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. "I miss him so much... but I know that won't bring him back..."

"I suppose we're both expected to move on now, huh?" asked Jason, looking at the ceiling. "I hope I can," he continued, "it's going to be hard, but I think I'll manage. No matter what, Wendy will always have a special place in my heart."

Jason paused for a moment. _Should I ask her...? Nah... But maybe...? No way... _He debated on whether or not he should ask Erin about... 'them.' After almost ten minutes of silent debating, Jason made his decision. "Hey, Erin," he said, rolling over on his side to face her. He started to reach out his hand and tap her on the shoulder, but he stopped himself upon noticing that Erin had fallen asleep.

"Nevermind," Jason mumbled to himself, smiling at his foolishness. He laid next to Erin, watching her sleep. _I can't help it, _he thought, _She's beautiful. I know that I'll have to move __on from Wendy, but I don't want to. But if I have to move on, I guess I'll want to start __something new with Erin._

Jason watched her roll over onto her side and heard her mumble Ian's name. "Erin," Jason said quietly, "I'm so sorry. Not just for me anymore, but for you. And I'm sorry I'm starting to feel... different... about you..." He nervously bit his lip and shook his head. Jason scooted closer to Erin and hesitantly put his arm around her. He felt her tense up at first, but then relax after he had gently grabbed her hand.

"Ian..." mumbled Erin. "Don't leave me... please..."

Jason held Erin close, and tried not to cry. He remembered all the times he had comforted Wendy when she was in distress; he remembered all the times that she had made him laugh when he was in the worst mood possible. Jason gently rubbed Erin's hand in his, and made a silent vow to himself.

_Erin, I promise that I'll protect you from now on. I know that no one will ever replace Ian, but __I'd like to start something new with you. Why? Because nobody else will ever know how I feel. __Nobody else will never know how you feel. We're in this together and we will be 'til the end._

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Jason opened his eyes and looked around the dark room, wondering where he was. He remembered all of the previous night... going to Erin's, looking at the clues in the pictures, talking with Erin... _Oh shit, _thought Jason, _I fell asleep! _He started to panic, but stopped himself from doing anything stupid.

He glanced at the clock without moving his whole body. It was 2:42 in the morning. Jason then returned his gaze towards Erin, who was still asleep in his arms. _Okay, I didn't wake __her up, that's good... _He knew that if he tried getting out through the front door he'd wake up Erin's mother and she'd automatically assume the worst. _Shit. _

Jason looked around the room and spotted an open window. He knew that one of the two windows in her room was above an awning and he remembered seeing Ian and Erin both sitting on the awning back in the day, waving to him and Wendy as they walked by. Jason carefully got off Erin's bed and tiptoed across the room towards the window.

He felt a calm summer breeze drift in through the window and he turned around to see Erin one last time before he left. Jason saw Erin shiver a little from the breeze and he took off his jacket. He walked carefully towards Erin and draped the jacket over her upper body. Then he went back towards the window and before exiting, he whispered, "I'll see you tomorrow."

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Erin awoke the next morning around 7:00. She sat up and stretched, not noticing anything unusual. The girl yawned and stood up and noticed something fall to the floor. Erin bent over and picked up a jacket. _That's Jason's, _she thought, _what's it doing here? _Then she remembered: Jason had come over to her house the previous night to help with the pictures.

After picking out an outfit for the day and taking a shower, Erin got dressed and went downstairs to eat breakfast. She saw it as a good thing that she was starting to get her appetite back; she had lost nearly fifteen pounds since the Devil's Flight incident. Erin settled for a pop-tart and a cup of coffee and she sat down at the table, wondering what was in store for her today.

The goth waited until around 9:30 to leave for Jason's house. She decided she was going to drive them to the rec center to see Kevin and Carrie; she felt as if she owed it to him for giving her a ride home the previous day. After running up the stairs to her room to get the pictures, Jason's jacket, and her keys, she wrote a note on a piece of scrap paper explaining to her mother where she went.

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To Erin's relief, Jason was ready to leave by the time she got to his house. She noticed that he was acting a little weird, but she didn't exactly see it as a bad thing. Come to think of it, he didn't act weird until she gave him back his jacket... Erin and Jason didn't talk much on the way to the rec center, but after they parked in the shade, they got out the pictures and talked about whether or not Kevin and Carrie would believe them.

Jason led the way through the game room and gym and out a door in the back of the building. They walked through a small courtyard and saw Kevin and Carrie both in the private pool. Jason decided that Kevin rented the place out for the day just so they could hang out, judging from the fact that no one else was there.

"Hey!" said Kevin, spying Jason and Erin. He climbed out of the pool and dashed towards Jason, running into him and giving him a brotherly hug. "What's up, man?"

"Nothin'," was Jason's casual reply. "Just seein' what you guys are doing."

Carrie had gotten out of the pool, too, and had walked over to them. "Jason," she said, nodding in his direction. Jason smiled weakly at her. "Erin," Carrie looked at Erin and gave her a small hug. "I know it's not the time," said Carrie, "but I want you to know that I'm really sorry about Ian... and Wendy. Wendy was my best friend..." Carrie trailed off and got quiet, so she wouldn't have a high risk of crying.

"It's okay," said Erin. _No, it's not okay, Carrie... it'll never be okay... _

The four teens stood in a circle talking about what they were doing now that they were officially done with high school, what they've been up to (Jason and Erin weren't too enthusiastic about this topic), and how life had been.

"Man," said Kevin, putting his hands in the pockets of his swimming trunks, "These days really suck." The others nodded in agreement. "Fucking boring..."

Jason decided to break the news that he and Erin didn't come there just to say hi. "Kev," said Jason, "Carrie, we didn't just drop by to see what you guys were up to."

"What do you mean?" asked Kevin as he struck a match and lit a fire in a nearby grill and put a few hot dogs on it.

"Well," started Jason, "do you remember Flight 180 about six years ago?"

Kevin tossed the match over his shoulder after blowing it out. "Yeah, I think I remember hearing about it on the news..."

Jason nodded, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. "About that..."

"We think it might have something to do with what's happening now," said Erin.

"And how is that?" asked Carrie, plugging in a small stereo to an outlet on the side of the building.

Erin watched both Kevin and Carrie, trying not to miss anything. "Did you guys hear about how all the survivors of that crash started dying off in freak accidents?"

"Yeah," said Carrie, messing around with the radio stations until she found one she liked. "That was weird."

AFI's "Miss Murder" came on. _How ironic, _thought Erin in disgust.

"Let me guess," said Kevin, "you guys think that the Ashes, Lewis, and Frankie all died in freak accidents because they got off the rollercoaster?"

Jason nodded. "As freaky as it sounds, well, yeah."

Carrie laughed. "You guys are crazy. I know that we've all gone through some real wack shit lately, but come on."

"Erin's premonition, the rollercoaster crash, the pictures, it all makes sense!" defended Jason.

"Pictures?" asked Kevin.

"Yeah," said Jason, handing the stack of pictures to Kevin. "From Senior Night. Look at some of 'em and you'll find out real fast what we're getting at."

Kevin flipped through the pictures like they were a flipbook. "You guys are trippin'!"

A cold breeze blew around the courtyard, causing the leaves on the trees to rattle mysteriously and a wind chime to softly make music in the oddly cool summer air. Erin looked up and watched the sky, everything seemed to go dead still after that, minus Jason, Kevin, and Carrie's conversation.

Death was approaching.


	11. Mercy, Severity

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Eleven: Mercy, Severity**

"Okay, okay," said Kevin as he lit another match, setting it inside the grill to re-ignite the flame, "So you guys are saying that the clues to our _gruesome deaths _are in our pictures?"

Jason was starting to get annoyed with his friend's arrogance. "Yes, Kev. That's right."

Carrie held her picture and couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Okay, so let me guess... I'm going to get crushed by a giant SpongeBob..." She looked at Kevin's picture. "And Kevin's going to be embarassed to death?"

"Carrie," said Erin, "Be real. You don't know what we've been through. You haven't _seen _what we have."

"O contraire!" said Carrie, handing Erin the pictures. "Just F.Y.I, I don't think I see any SpongeBobs around here, so I'm safe for now, right?" Kevin laughed at her smart remark.

"Come on, guys!" pleaded Jason. "It's not funny! Don't get mad at us for trying to save your asses!"

Kevin and Carrie's smiles faded and they gave Jason an odd look. "Okay," said Carrie after a prolonged silence, "Who's next in this theory of yours? Me or Kevin?"

"I don't know," answered Erin, "We know that it goes by how we sat on the rollercoaster, but we don't know who goes first when two people sat together on the train. We don't know who died first out of Ashley or Ashlyn, for example..."

The match fell out of a hole in the bottom of the grill and fell on top of a small propane tank sitting underneath it...

Kevin put his hand against the grill, after shutting the lid and gave Jason and Erin a rather serious look. "There's gotta be some way to beat this thing." He took a step forward. "Just look at it this way: You guys are saying that Death is a force, right? If Death is a force, then apply it to Newton's third law of motion. Just assume that it works for Death, too. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."

"What are you getting at?" asked Jason.

"What if," started Kevin, "What if, just hypothetically speaking here, that the last in line was to... oh say... make the utilitarian choice to kill themself? I mean, that's obviously going to put a stop to any plan Death's put in motion, isn't it?" He folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow. "Any takers?"

Static was heard coming from the radio. After mere seconds, the radio began to rapidly change through ten to fifteen stations, finally settling on one playing "Turn Around, Look At Me" by the Lettermen.

"Okay, forget this," said Jason. "Kev, I've always known you to be a smart ass..."

"Self proclaimed," Kevin proudly announced, making Carrie giggle.

Jason sighed. "This isn't getting anywhere, so I'll just ask you one simple question."

"And that would be...?" asked Carrie.

"Who was sitting behind you guys on the rollercoaster?" asked Jason. "You know, those two girls with the hoods that switched you guys places."

"You sure those were girls?" asked Kevin. "You said they were wearing hoods, right?" Jason nodded. "Well, _maybe _those girls were Death's daughters and he let them out to play!" Kevin and Carrie both laughed.

"You guys, it's _not _funny!" said Erin, "We're serious!"

"Erin," said Carrie, "Everything's fine," she started to explain, "I know you've lost Ian and all, but..." Erin tuned out her voice as she started to feel that bad instinct in her stomach.

Erin felt her heartbeat speed up after feeling that eerie, terrifying breeze blow through her hair again. She looked around and then spotted the propane tank under the grill and saw the match sitting on top of it, near the nozzle. The match still had an ember on it... and an odd smell was in the air... propane...

"GET DOWN!" Erin screamed, launching herself at Kevin.

"ERIN!" screamed Kevin. "WHAT THE FU--?!" He was cut off by the sound of an explosion.

The propane tank had exploded due to the match and Kevin was pulled backwards by Erin. Jason ducked down and pulled Erin and Kevin down with him. Carrie screamed and jumped backwards, tripping over the cord to the radio.

"CARRIE!" screamed Kevin.

Carrie fell backwards, into the pool, screaming. The radio went into the pool with her and the sound of helpless screaming and electricity surrounded the courtyard. A fuse on the radio exploded and it jerked the cord out of the outlet, stopping the electric current.

Jason, Erin, and Kevin stared in horror at the pool. A few bubbles were seen, followed by Carrie's lifeless body floating to the top.

Kevin slowly turned around, shaking with fear and anger. "NO! CARRIE! NOOOO!" He shot an accusing look in Erin's direction.

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Erin walked down the steps of the McKinley police station, almost tripping over her own feet after being lightly shoved by one of the police men. She met up with Jason at the bottom of the steps, who immediately started freaking out.

"Erin!" he said. "My God, I thought they were going to lock you up or something!" He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "They kept you in there for five hours."

"How long did they have you?" asked Erin.

"About thirty minutes," answered Jason. "What did you tell them?"

"E--everything..." stuttered Erin. "I told them about Flight 180, about the... the pictures... about my premontion..." Jason could see tears starting to form in her eyes. "They probably think I'm... think I'm crazy, now..."

Jason took a step towards Erin and pulled her into a hug. "Hey, don't cry," he said, gently patting her on the back. "I know you're not crazy. Who cares if those pigs do? They're not the ones trying to save innocent lives..."

They stood there on the sidewalk in front of the police station for the longest time, embracing one another. Although Erin was being as quiet as possible, Jason could tell she was crying by the way he felt her body shaking. He held her as close as he could, so close he swore he felt her heartbeat against his.

Jason wasn't sure what to do. One of his absolute closest friends had just been killed in a tragic and freakish way, his best friend since childhood was now heartbroken and more than likely raging mad at him, and the girl whom he was starting to have feelings for was breaking down in his arms.

"Don't cry," Jason repeated himself, rubbing Erin's back and resting his chin on top of her head. "We can beat this. I know it, and you know it."

"Oh, Jason!" sobbed Erin. "I'm sorry everything turned out this way! I wish I could have saved Ian and Wendy and everyone on that fucking rollercoaster!" Her body shook from her crying and she held onto Jason for dear life.

Jason grabbed her hands and held them to his chest. She took a step back, but her gaze remained fixed on the ground. Jason reached up with his right hand and gently pushed Erin's chin up and made her look at him. His ice blue eyes gazed longingly into her emerald green ones, and he could see the sadness in them, and he knew that she could see the sadness in his eyes as well.

"Erin," said Jason, "It's gonna be okay. I'll protect you... I promise..."

Erin wiped away her tears on her sleeve and then looked at Jason once more. "Jason," she said, "I miss Ian terribly, but I want to move on. I was kind of hoping that if I could save anyone... just one person... from this _hell, _that I would be able to move on... but it's not working. Maybe it's because I can't save anyone--"

"I know how you feel," whispered Jason, "I'll always love Wendy 'til the day I die, but I want to move on, too. I know she'd want me to be happy. I know Wendy wouldn't care who I was with or what I did with my life as long as I was happy and didn't waste a precious second..." Jason firmly held Erin's hands in his own and he pulled her just a little bit closer.

"Ian always told me to be happy no matter what happens," said Erin, feeling tears well up in her eyes once more, "but I never once thought it would come down to this. I thought he'd be mine forever, and I'd be _his _forever..." She took a deep breath and looked down at the ground. "I mean, I'll always love Ian, but I know he would never want to see me hurt like this..." Erin looked up at Jason once more. "The worst part is... I feel _so alone. _Ever since _that day, _I've felt alone, lonelier than I ever have in my whole life... I don't want to be alone anymore..."

"Well maybe you don't have to be alone anymore," said Jason. The two stood there gazing into one another's eyes, for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes.

Jason could no longer help himself. He slowly let go of Erin's hands and put his hands on her hips, gently pulling her close, then he closed his eyes and leaned forward, and kissed her. At first, Erin was a little startled by his actions, but after feeling the warmth of his lips against hers, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gave in to his kiss.

They ended their kiss rather reluctantly, a few minutes later. Erin looked away from Jason, a blush forming on her usually pale face. Jason felt his face threaten to turn red, too.

"Erin--I'm... sorry," said Jason. "I--I don't know what came over me! I just--"

"It's okay," said Erin, starting to cry silently. She looked up at Jason, secretly longing for him to kiss her again.

Jason noticed Erin's tears and wiped them away. "Don't cry, Erin," he said, as he pulled her into a strong, warm embrace once again. "I think Wendy and Ian would want it this way."

"I hope so," sobbed Erin.

Jason and Erin stood in front of the police station in an embrace that seemed to last an eternity. It had started to rain, but they stayed rooted to the spot. After the rain started to pour down in a heavier fashion, Jason gave Erin a more passionate kiss and held her as tight as he could without hurting her. Erin returned the favor and kissed him back. After they ended their second kiss, Jason smiled at Erin and got her to smile back at him. Then he picked her up and twirled her around, and they both danced around in the rain for what seemed like hours to them.

The two heartbroken teens prayed that in some way, Ian McKinley and Wendy Christenson could see them now, and only wish them the best.

In a small green truck just a little way down the sidewalk, Kevin Fischer watched Jason Wise and Erin Ulmer, one thing on his mind: revenge.


	12. The Wish Upon a Star

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Twelve: The Wish Upon A Star**

Jason grabbed Erin's hand and led her down the sidewalk, slightly at a run. The rain poured down on them, but they no longer cared. In their heartbreaks, they had found love; in their sorrow, they had found happiness. Neither of them realized it yet.

They ran down the sidewalk, turning at a corner, and started up at a run again, heading for the nearby city park. They ran across the park, past the swings, the slides, and the jungle gym, barely even caring to notice the rain and the cloudy sky overhead. Erin slipped her hand out of Jason's and ran up a small hill with a large sycamore tree at the top. Jason ran after her and smiled, a _real _smile; the first one in a month.

Erin stood at the top of the hill, smiling as she watched Jason run towards her. When he was within five feet of her, she turned around and tried to run in the opposite direction. Jason caught her and playfully knocked her to the ground. They both laid in a heap on the grass, laughing.

That was the first time in what seemed like a lifetime ago that either one of them had let out an honest to goodness laugh.

Jason scooted back towards the tree and leaned against it's trunk, and Erin did the same. He looked at Erin and laughed after seeing the smile on her face. After a few minutes, they both got quiet and watched their surroundings. The rain started to slow down. Jason hesitantly put his arm around Erin's shoulders. She tensed up for a moment, but then relaxed, leaning against him.

"You know me and Wendy used to hang out here all the time?" asked Jason.

"Really?" asked Erin.

"Mmhmm..." Jason let out a sigh of relief and pulled Erin closer to him. "I'll never forget those days... I'll never forget Wendy, either..."

"She was one of my closest friends," said Erin, "if you don't count Ian, she _was _my best friend."

Both teens sat in silence under the tree for a while. The rain had stopped and the clouds were starting to clear up, revealing a beautiful sunset in the distance.

"Wow," said Erin, "It's so pretty."

"Yeah," agreed Jason.

"It's been a while since I've seen a sunset," said Erin, "But then again, it's like I've forgotten what beauty looks like..."

Jason turned to face Erin. "I haven't forgotten what beauty looks like," he said. "I thought that after I lost Wendy, I'd never find the right girl again. I must be blind because she's sitting right here in front of me." Jason reached out and brushed a few strands of hair out of Erin's face and tucked them gently behind her ear.

"I've been thinking these past few days," continued Jason, "About a lot of things. In all this negativity, I've found something positive. I remember a few days ago, when we were in your room looking at those pictures, I kept thinking 'God, she's beautiful,' and then I'd think 'no, I can't be thinking that!' But now, I guess it's okay to think that." Jason put his hands on Erin's shoulders and gazed into her eyes.

"Jay," said Erin, "are you serious?" She sounded as if she wanted to cry.

Jason nodded. "You _are _beautiful."

Erin looked down and started to cry a little. "Jason," she said, "Ian was the only other guy who's ever said that to me... it's not that I don't want to, but if you want to start over, why with me?"

"Because I want to," said Jason. "Because I know that no one else will ever know how you feel, how _I _feel. And no one else has lost what we have. I feel comfortable around you, even though we've never been really close before."

"You really mean that?" asked Erin in a soft voice.

"Yes," answered Jason. "If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't have said it." She looked up at him and made eye contact.

After a moment of silence, Jason leaned forward and gave Erin a very passionate kiss. He put his arms around her and pulled her close, and she put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him back in an equally passionate way.

Jason broke off the kiss and stopped to look at Erin. He wanted to say something, but words just couldn't be put in a sentence describing what was on his mind. Jason put one hand behind Erin's waist and the other behind her shoulders and kissed her once more. Erin wrapped her arms around him and held him as tightly as possible.

Erin leaned into Jason and closed her eyes. She felt his hands rubbing her back in a soothing manner and without being able to control herself anymore, she let his tongue slide into her mouth. Erin blindly reached for the sleeves on Jason's jacket and gently tugged at them. Jason took off his jacket and dropped it behind him before proceeding in putting his hands on Erin's shoulders and gently pushing her backwards.

Jason let go of her momentarily and took off his shirt, dropping it in a heap on top of his jacket. Erin put her hands behind Jason's waist and pulled him closer. He kissed her again and slipped his hand up the back of her shirt. Erin felt her body tense up at his touch, and he tugged upward at her shirt, eventually taking the time to pull it off.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" asked Jason, taking a deep breath.

"I don't want to hurt anymore," Erin replied softly. "I don't want to belong to Ian anymore; there's no point..." She put her hand on the back of Jason's neck and he leaned forward so that their noses were touching.

"I don't want to hurt you," said Jason, putting his hand on Erin's leg.

"You won't," said Erin.

The sun had finally set and the broken-hearted teens made love well into the night. Neither one of them cared anymore if what they were doing was right or wrong; they didn't see a point in dwelling on Wendy and Ian, and neither of them could control their emotions anymore.

They both had so longed for something to fill the voids that had grown in their hearts, and now they only hoped that they could fill the void with whatever was to become of their relationship.

What seemed like an eternity later, they stopped. Erin went first and let out a small cry of both pain and pleasure as she arched her body towards Jason, who finished after her, collapsing on top of her moments later. Jason, exhausted as he was, noticed that Erin had started crying again, and he held her, wanting to let her know that she was safe with him.

"What's wrong?" asked Jason, a few minutes later. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Erin shook her head and took a deep breath. "You didn't hurt me," she said in a quiet tone.

"Then what's wrong?" asked Jason, running his hand through Erin's hair and planting a delicate kiss on her collarbone.

The girl thought for a moment, trying to find a way to put her thoughts into words. "It's just that..." she started, "... I've never... been with anyone... before this..." She looked up at Jason. "Not even Ian..."

Jason wasn't sure what to say. He felt bad, and in his mind he started to panic, after an unpleasant thought appeared. _What if she thinks I took advantage of her in her __time of need? _Just to be sure, he decided to ask her about it. "Erin," said Jason, "I'm... sorry..."

"For what?" sobbed Erin. "There's nothing to be sorry about." She rested her head against Jason's chest and listened to his heartbeat.

"You were Ian's," said Jason in a regretful tone, "and I took you."

"But I _wanted _you to," said Erin. "As weird as it sounds, I probably wouldn't even have a chance at getting over Ian if you didn't."

Jason rested his chin on the top of her head and held her. "But I feel like I took advantage of you," he said.

"But you didn't," said Erin. "It's okay. As wrong as it seems, I wish I could stay here with you forever. I don't ever want to go back to... reality..."

"Me neither," said Jason, "But we have to. We have to try and stop... death."

"I don't want to," said Erin, "At least not tonight."

"Tomorrow I have to work security at the Tricenntennial," said Jason, "I don't want to go. If it was up to me, I'd freeze time so that tonight would last forever. It's the first time in a while that I've actually felt... well, _happy._" He looked at Erin and smiled. "You're the only person who's ever made me feel this way. I didn't think I'd be able to love anyone ever again, but I've fallen for one of my close friends."

After a few minutes of silently collecting their thoughts, Erin and Jason both reluctantly got up and got fully dressed and then headed back to the police station, laughing along the way at how they had left Erin's van back there. When they got in the van, the checked the time and the digital clock on the radio read 12:02. Neither one said anything on the way to Jason's house. Right before Jason got out of the van, he leaned over and gave Erin a kiss before whispering, "I'll see you tomorrow. Call me when you get up."

Erin had actually gotten back to her own home about fifteen minutes later. She had spent about five minutes parked in Jason's driveway, thinking about the night's events. When she got home, she sneaked in through the front door and tiptoed up the stairs. She took a quick shower and immediately went to bed, praying that her mother didn't wake up or notice anything weird about her coming home so late.

_I feel bad about trying to get over Ian, _thought Erin as she collapsed onto her bed, burying her face in a pillow. _I'm sorry, Ian. Please forgive me. I know you would never __be mad at me for doing this, but I can't help but wonder. I know that if that rollercoaster __had never crashed that we'd be together now, at this exact moment. _

Erin rolled over onto her back and looked at the ceiling. She glanced over to her bedside table and gazed at a picture of her Ian that was sitting there. The girl fingered the ring that Ian had given her, and she slowly took it off for the first time. Feeling a tear slide down her cheek, Erin held the ring in her clenched fist and held it against her chest.

Looking up, as if looking towards a divine being or a God of some sort, Erin said quietly through her tears, "Ian, wherever you are, please forgive me. No one will ever replace you in my heart, _ever. _But I know you wouldn't want me dwelling on you." She unclenched her fist and looked down at the ring; the silver band glistened in the moonlight pouring in through the window.

Erin leaned across the bed and opened a drawer on her bedside table. She gently put the ring in the drawer and then picked up the framed picture of her and Ian. Erin looked at the picture for a while and then gently placed it in the drawer, next to the ring. She shut the drawer and then laid back down on her bed.

After pulling the blanket up over her head, Erin laid on her side in a fetal position. She began to cry, knowing that as of right now, nothing would ever be the same again.

Reality had sunk in that she would never see Ian ever again; it had finally hit her after a month. She wondered if Jason felt the same way about Wendy. In all of her sorrow and pain, she realized that there was _one _good thing that came out of this tragedy:

She knew now that she wasn't alone, that Jason was in the same position as her and he'd protect her until the end.

By 2:00 in the morning, Erin had silently cried herself to sleep.


	13. Cultivate

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Thirteen: Cultivate**

The next morning, Erin got up around eleven, realizing with horror that she had slept in. It took her a while to fully recall the events of the previous night. She remembered Carrie's death, going to the police station, going to the park with Jason...

_Jason... _Erin thought for a moment and then put a hand over her mouth in surprise... _Oh my __God... Did we--? _She remembered going to the park and hanging out with him... and _making __out_ with him... _We did. _Erin was a little shaken at the thought of it, but then remembered what he had told her.

After collecting her thoughts, Erin quickly got in the shower and got dressed. She ran down the stairs, slipping on a couple steps, not wanting to make Jason worry about her. She knew he was probably expecting her to call him, and she didn't want him to think she was mad at him. Erin grabbed her keys off the kitchen table and bolted out the front door, not even caring to leave a note for her mother. Then she got in the van and drove off to the Tricenntennial, deciding to just meet up with Jason there.

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_Why hasn't she called me yet? _Wondered Jason, as he walked around at the McKinley Tricenntennial. He had been worried all day, praying that Erin wouldn't be mad at him for the previous night. _What were we supposed to do...? _Jason quickly shoved all thoughts of last night to the back of his mind.

He checked his watch. 12:41. Jason reached for his cell phone and just as he was about to dial Erin's cell phone number, he saw her running towards him.

"Jay!" called Erin. She ran towards him and jumped into his arms. Jason caught her and gave her a smile. "You aren't mad at me are you?" asked Erin, panting from her run.

"Me? Mad at you? No!" said Jason, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I... I was actually worried about you being mad at me... You see, about last night--"

"What about last night?" asked Erin. "I'm not mad at you," she said in a quiet voice. "I know I didn't explain much, but you basically did for me."

"So," said Jason, "you _would _like to... go out?"

"Yeah," said Erin. "I don't see why not. Besides, I've been thinking and I've decided that Ian and Wendy wouldn't want us to be depressed and lonely for the rest of our lives; they'd want to see us happy."

Jason smiled. "Well, good," he said, "Because it's been driving me crazy all day knowing that I had to wait to do this." He pulled Erin into a hug and gave her a kiss.

"Jay," said Erin, after they had broke off their kiss, "Did you ever get any clues on who was sitting behind Kev and Carrie?"

Jason shook his head. "No. I was kinda hoping you did."

"Nothing," Erin looked down at the ground. She looked at Jason's bright orange 'security' jacket. "Nice jacket," said Erin, laughing a little.

"I know," said Jason, "But if I'm ever gonna become an F.B.I detective, I guess I have to start somewhere, even if somewhere is working security at a town Tricenntennial..."

Both of them were silent for a moment. "Erin," said Jason, "I get my break at one, so how about we leave early and... go take a look at our pictures?"

"I thought you didn't want to see yours!" said Erin.

"Well," said Jason, "It's those two girls, then us. What have we got to lose?"

Erin smiled. "You're right! It skipped Kevin, remember? He was supposed to die first, but we intervened... that's how we're gaining control..." She brushed her hair out of her face and looked up at Jason. "Speaking of Kevin," she started, "Have you heard from him?"

"No," said Jason, "I tried calling him yesterday, but he didn't pick up." He was silent for a moment.

"You think we should help him?" asked Erin.

"I'd like to," said Jason, "but first we have to try and find out who was sitting in front of us on that rollercoaster." A horrible thought struck him. "What if they're already dead?"

"No," said Erin, "they can't be. There's a good chance that those two girls are from McKinley, and we haven't heard any talk of strange deaths lately... besides Carrie..."

"This is crazy," said Jason.

"I know," replied Erin. "Carrie was one of your closest friends, wasn't she?"

Jason nodded. "Actually, me and Carrie didn't talk that much. I guess we were just friends because I'm Kev's best friend and Carrie was Kev's girlfriend and Wendy's best friend..."

"Still," said Erin, "I'm sorry about what happened to her."

"I've seen worse."

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"Okay," said Jason sitting down on Erin's bed waiting for her to bring up the yearbook files on her computer, "are you sure my picture's nothing to worry about?"

"Mmmhmm," Erin mumbled as she went through the pictures. Group pictures, Julie flipping off the camera, Lewis, the Ashes, Danny Law and Chester Moore at the Skill Shooter, Ian and Erin... Erin finally managed to bring up her picture.

"What does yours look like?" asked Jason.

"I don't know," said Erin. She was looking at the picture of her and Ian that was taken at the Skill Shooter booth. Ian was turned sideways holding up the fake gun and Erin was flipping off the camera. "It looks like Ian's pointing the gun at me, so maybe I get shot...?"

"Stay away from guns," said Jason.

"Maybe I get attacked by pigeons," said Erin, trying to humor the situation.

Jason chuckled. "Hope not."

Erin groaned. "God, this is so confusing! There's a million things that could happen!"

"What if it's not _that _particular picture?" asked Jason. "You know, like Frankie's clue was in another one." He got up and walked over to Erin, putting his hands on the desk.

"Let me check," said Erin. She brought up a file that was filled with pictures of her and Ian. There was only three pictures in it that were from grad night. The picture of her and Ian at the Skill Shooter, the group picture taken in front of the Devil's Flight, and another one where she was sitting next to Ian at the food court.

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary," said Jason.

"All there really is to worry about is what, the _table_?" said Erin sarcastically. "Lots of people, stuffed animals, a couple of Cokes sitting _on _the table."

"Maybe you drown in Coke," said Jason, raising an eyebrow.

"Get real," said Erin as she tried to stifle a laugh, but failed miserably. "Okay, time to see _your _picture."

"I need and old priest and a young priest," said Jason. Erin playfully smacked him. "Okay, I'll be serious," Jason apologized.

Erin clicked on the main yearbook file and then went to the grad night folder. She clicked on the sub category labeled 'jay n wendy' and brought up a full page of pictures. "Shit," said Erin, "which one could it be?"

"I don't know," said Jason.

"Wait a minute," said Erin.

"What?"

"The clue's in the _last _picture taken of an individual, isn't it?" she asked.

"Well that's what it's been like for Frankie and the others," said Jason.

Erin turned to Jason. "Do you remember the last picture you had taken of yourself?"

Jason thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think I remember." He looked closely at the pictures and then pointed to a specific one. "It was that one-- I remember because there was this moron walking around with a cart full of glow-in-the-dark crap when Kev stole Wendy's camera and got this weird pic of us."

Erin clicked on the picture and zoomed in on it. Jason and Wendy were standing in front of the line for the Devil's Flight and there was a guy pushing a cart of cheap carnival toys. It mainly consisted of glow-in-the-dark swords, crowns, and necklaces; some of them had strobe lights on them. There was also a kid in the background with one of the swords and it looked like it was about to cut Jason in half with it.

"Nice," said Jason. "So I get sliced in half? Brilliant. Just fucking awesome," he said sarcastically.

"That might not be it," said Erin. "Just look at your picture and try to memorize anything out of the ordinary about it. You have to be back at the Tricenntennial by 3:00 and it's 2:40 right now."

"But there's still the mystery of those two girls in front of us," said Jason. "What if they're dying _right now _as we speak?"

"Good question," said Erin. She clicked on a few random pictures on the computer screen. "Now who in the world could they possibly--" She paused and stared at the screen. The picture of Julie, Wendy's sister, and her friends had popped up on the screen. Julie and one of her friends were wearing the same exact hoodies as the girls on the Devil's Flight.

"What's wrong?" asked Jason.

"I think we found Death's next victims," said Erin, putting a hand over her mouth.

"Who?" Jason looked at the computer screen. "Oh my God..."

"Do... do you have Julie's number?" asked Erin.

"Yeah, I think so," said Jason.

They both looked at each other for a moment and then darted out of Erin's room and down the stairs, not even taking the time to turn off the computer. They ran out the front door and made a beeline to Erin's van. Jason got into passenger seat and hastily put on his seatbelt while Erin got in the driver's seat and put the keys in ignition. She quickly backed out of the driveway and sped down the road, towards the town square where the Tricenntennial was being held.

Jason got out his cell phone and quickly went through his speed dial list. He had a hard time finding Julie's number, but then remembered it was saved under the contact name 'Brat' and he nervously laughed after highlighting 'Brat' and calling her.

Jason laughed nervously, "I'm calling the Brat..." Erin gave him a weird look before taking a sharp turn.

"Hi," came the voice from the cell phone.

"Hey, Julie! Okay, it's me, Jay--" Jason was cut off by the rest of the voicemail going off.

"--This is Julie, I won't be available today because I'm spending the day at the Tricenntennial, so if it's _that _important, just meet me there, and if it's--" Jason hung up.

"Shit."

"What?"

"Voicemail."

"Well that's cool, because we're in the parking lot," said Erin pulling in to a parking space. They both got out of the van and headed towards the main site.

"Okay, we'll split up and if either of us finds Julie or her friend, we'll call each other, okay?" asked Erin. Jason nodded. Then they both parted ways.


	14. Perversion of a Truth

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Fourteen: Perversion of a Truth**

Erin wandered through the crowds of people at the McKinley Tricenntennial. There was still no sign of Julie or her friends. It was going on 8:30, which meant that Erin and Jason had been looking for Julie for almost six hours. Jason had called Erin occasionally and they had met up every hour or so to talk and try to look for the girls together.

_Where could they be? _Thought Erin. _I must have searched every inch of this place since earlier __this afternoon. _She thought she saw a glimpse of Julie and craned her neck to see around this real tall guy in front of her. _Shit, not her... I wonder if Jay's got any clues yet?_

As if on cue, Erin's cell phone rang. She answered it in a hurry. "Hello?"

There was no answer.

"Come on, who is it?" asked Erin.

Still no answer.

"Jay, is this you?" asked Erin, starting to get annoyed. "Whatever." She hung up and started walking towards the security tent to see if Jason was in there.

Her cell phone rang again. Erin groaned and answered it. "Okay, who the hell keeps calling me?"

"Woa, Erin," came Jason's calming voice on the other line, "Calm down, it's me, Jay."

"Did you just call me, like two seconds ago?" asked Erin.

"No," answered Jason. "Why?"

"Some jackass called me and hung up," said Erin.

"Well you know it wasn't me-- I could never do that to you," replied Jason. "Hey, where are you?"

"Security tent," said Erin, looking around. She walked out of it. "Now I'm outside, looking towards the fireworks display."

"Okay," said Jason, "I'm pretty close. I'll be over there in just one minute."

"Okay," said Erin, "see you then." She hung up her phone and put it back in her pocket. She walked around, looking for any sign of Jason or Julie.

A few minutes later, Erin heard Jason calling her name. She turned her head, trying to find out where his voice came from. She glanced to the left and there was Jason wading through a group of kids, holding his arm up. "Erin!" he called.

"Hey," said Erin, smiling. Jason walked over to her and gave her a hug. She rested her chin on his shoulder as he gave her a kiss on top of her head.

"What if Julie didn't make it here?" sighed Jason after a moment's silence.

"Don't say that," said Erin, closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry," said Jason. "It's just... I don't know..."

The two teens stood there amongst a crowd of people for a few minutes, seizing the moment. They both knew that the horrible was about to happen.

Erin opened her eyes as she felt Jason loosen his grip on her body. _Is that? _Erin backed away from Jason. "Oh my God..."

"What?" asked Jason, giving her a concerned look.

Erin didn't even answer him. She took off running through the crowd, occasionally shoving people out of her way. "JULIE!" Some people were turning their heads to stare at her and some even gave her nasty comments for shoving them. "JULIE!"

Julie turned around after hearing her name. "Erin?"

Erin was a few feet away from her. Almost there. Closer...

She let out a surprised cry as she fell forwards. Erin broke her fall with her hands and landed on her knees. She heard someone behind her mumble something about "disrespectful teenagers."

"Erin, are you okay?" asked Julie, coming over to her. She held out her hand and Erin took it, with which Julie gladly helped her to her feet. Then Jason came up to them, out of breath from running.

"Julie," he panted, "we've been looking for you all day..."

"Really?" asked Julie. "What for?"

"Okay," said Erin, "You know the pictures you gave me? From Wendy's camera?"

"Yeah," said Julie, raising an eyebrow. "What about them?"

"Did you... Were you on the Devil's Flight before it crashed?" asked Jason.

"Why does it matter?" asked Julie, getting defensive.

"Just listen to us--" started Erin.

"Is this what you guys wanted to talk to me about?" asked Julie. "You both _know _that discussing _that night _is _off limits _with me!" She whipped around and stormed off through the crowd. Her two friends followed.

Jason jogged after her. "Julie! Wait!" He caught up with her and grabbed her by the back of her jacket. "Let me explain--"

Julie spun around and flipped him off with both hands. "Let me explain _this _to you!"

Erin had caught up with them. "Julie! Jason!" She looked at Julie and then behind her. There was a white horse behind her... _Just like the picture... _and it looked _mad... _There were numerous security members around it trying to calm it down.

"JULIE! LOOK OUT!" screamed Erin.

Julie looked at her in surprise. Jason turned around. The sound of people screaming was heard, followed by galloping and angry neighing. The horse was headed right for Julie.

Julie screamed, unsure what to do. She stared in fear at the enraged horse. It ran right for her and knocked her down. Julie hit the ground and gasped for breath after having the wind momentarily knocked out of her. She pushed herself up on her hands and stared in horror as she saw the stake on the other end of the horse's rope heading for her face.

"JULIE!" screamed Erin.

The horse sped past them all and Julie rolled over to get out of the way. For literally half a second, Julie thought she was safe, but then the stake flew around her neck at full force, wrapping the rope around it and choking her. Julie let out a strangled scream as the horse drug her around the Tricenntennial.

"JULIE!" Erin and Jason screamed in unison. Julie's two friends also screamed and ran off in the opposite direction.

Erin turned to Jason and shook him. "DO SOMETHING!"

"I don't know!" Jason looked around in a panicked manner. He glanced towards one of the 'patriots' who happened to have a fake sword attached to his belt. Jason ran for him and grabbed the sword, which turned out to be real. He ran at full speed after Julie and the horse. Erin ran after him.

Jason caught up with Julie. He was running right next to her, but he couldn't find a good timing to cut the rope. _I've got to cut it without hurting her... _He looked ahead and saw a large campfire, burning bright. Jason felt his heart-rate speed up and he made his pace do the same.

They were both only yards from the fire... only feet... a mere foot. Jason dove forward, screaming, his arm outstretched at a last resort. Jason fell on the ground, losing his breath and closing his eyes, afraid to see what might have happened. A slice noise was heard and Jason cringed.

"J-Jason," stuttered Julie, "th-th-thanks..."

Jason opened his eyes and sat up. He looked at Julie. "You're... welcome." He was relieved that he had cut the rope and not something else...

They both turned around at the sound of Erin calling Julie's name.

"JULIE!" Erin slowed her pace as she got closer. "Are you okay?"

"No," panted Julie, "N...not really..."

"Okay," Erin said, taking a deep breath. "I _need to know _who was sitting next to you on the rollercoaster!"

"Why?" asked Julie.

"BECAUSE SHE'S NEXT!" screamed Erin, starting to panic.

"P-Perry," stuttered Julie.

"Which one is she?" asked Erin.

"Asian chick," Julie answered quickly.

Erin spun on her heel and went to run back into the crowd towards the fireworks display.

"ERIN!" yelled Jason.

She stopped dead in her tracks, almost tripping herself.

"Where are you going?" asked Jason.

"To find Perry!" called Erin. She started running. "Take Julie to the security tent! Get her some help!"

"Okay!" Jason called after her, helping Julie up. After getting to his feet, he stared at Erin until she was no longer in sight.

_Erin, please be careful... If Perry dies, we're next..._

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After about ten minutes of frantic running around and asking random people if they've seen or know Perry, Erin finally took a break. She bent forward and put her hands on her knees, taking slow, deep breaths. She looked up at the sky. It was fully dark outside, short of the moon and the fireworks that had been going off for around a half hour.

Erin stood straight up and began walking forward. "PERRY!" she called, glancing around. People were giving her weird looks, but she could care less. "PERRY!"

Only a small group of people ahead of her, there was Perry and Julie's other friend. Perry turned around at the sound of her name being called. She saw Erin and walked towards her.

"Were you looking for me?" asked Perry as she got closer.

"Yeah," panted Erin, "You've gotta get out of here..."

"Why?" asked Perry.

"Because--"

SWISH! CUT!

Erin and the other girl screamed. Perry had been impaled by a flag pole that had come flying at her. A rogue firework had shot it and it had fallen off a mock Revolutionary War shop behind them. The other girl ran away, along with the surrounding crowd. Erin stood there in horror until someone knocked her down.

She covered her head with her hands, praying she wouldn't get trampled to death in all the mass confusion and panic. People were screaming like mad and fireworks could be heard exploding too close for comfort. Erin let out a cry of pain as she felt someone step on her back. She rolled over and closed her eyes.

"Get up!" she heard someone yell. She felt a hand grab her wrist and forcefully pull her to her feet. It was a girl she knew from school. "What are you still doing here?!" yelled the girl. "RUN! Everyone's gone crazy! Horses gettin' loose! People dying!" She screamed and ran off, leaving Erin in confusion.

A horrible thought struck Erin as she stood there watching the girl run through the masses.

_JASON!_


	15. Nothing To Gein

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Fifteen: Nothing To Gein**

Jason had just got in the security tent with Julie. He called to the main security guard, "Hey! Need help over here!"

The security guard went over to them. "Oh my God!" He noticed the red marks around Julie's neck. "What happened to her?!"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you..." said Jason.

"Okay, miss," said the man to Julie, "What's your home phone number? I'm going to call your mom and she's going to pick you up..." He led Julie towards a small group of equally concerned security personnel.

An enormous amount of screaming was heard outside. Jason ran out, wondering what was going on. He looked around. People were screaming and running around in a mass panic like roaches who were attacked with pesticide. He looked up and saw fireworks going haywire and shooting off in all directions, some shooting random people.

He ran off through the crowd, trying to look for Erin. "ERIN!" he called, weaving in and out of scared pedestrians. "ERIN!" He was running past the hot dog stand... the Skill Shooter...

Jason stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of a cracking noise overhead. He looked up and in horror saw a set of _real _swords overhead, hanging as either decor or prizes. They rattled and then one by one started falling down. Jason screamed and jumped out of the way, just in time.

He rolled a few times, avoiding three more fallen swords. The rattling noise stopped and Jason laid on the ground, looking up. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief.

_SLICE!_

Jason screamed and grabbed his arm. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes as tightly as possible. "SON OF A BITCH!" He sat up and rocked back and forth, holding his arm trying to stop the bleeding. A last sword had fallen late and nicked his left bicep. A few minutes later, Jason got up and ripped the left sleeve off his jacket. He tied it tightly around his wounded bicep and then ran through the crowds again, searching for Erin.

_I hope she's okay..._

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Erin waded through the mass hysteria in search of Jason. They were the only ones left. As far as she knew, Jason was next, and then her, which meant that if something happened to Jason...

_Jay, please be alright, _Erin silently prayed, _Please... _

She spotted a fake Revolutionary War shack and ran into it, trying to avoid all the confusion. Erin shut the door and then stopped to catch her breath. It was dark in the shack, other than a few rays of moonlight shining in from the cracks on the roof. Erin pulled out her cell phone and went to dial Jason's number.

_I'll just tell him where I'm at, he'll meet me here... _

Something hit Erin from behind, causing her to fall to the ground. She let out a small scream and then felt something hard hit her in the back.

"It's nice to know you aren't dead yet," came a cold voice from somewhere in the room.

Erin whimpered in pain and tried to push herself up on her hands and knees. "Who are you?" she asked in a small voice. The mysterious figure put their foot on her back and pressed down, causing her to hit the ground face first.

"Why does it matter?" asked the person. It was obviously a man, judging by the voice. Erin recognized that voice, _but who was it? _

"Why does it matter?" he repeated. "I'm not dying! It skipped me!"

"K... Kevin?" Erin couldn't believe it.

"Who else?" He took his foot off her back and she heard him take a few steps away.

She had just realized something. "_You _were the one calling me earlier, weren't you?"

"So what if I was?" asked Kevin. "Just wanted to see if I could scare you, that's all..." Silence engulfed the two for a few moments, tension swarming in the air.

Erin gradually got up, trying to figure out where Kevin was. "Why?" she asked.

"Why what?" asked Kevin in a cold voice.

"Why are you doing this to me?" asked Erin.

"_Why did Carrie have to DIE?!_" Kevin lunged at Erin, who could vaguely make out his figure in the darkness. Kevin shoved her to the ground and shook her violently. "WHY?! WHY THE _HELL _DID CARRIE HAVE TO DIE?!"

Erin was more scared now than any other time in her life. It all made sense now. Kevin was in her picture... he was the clue... not the gun, not the odd posters... it was _Kevin... _

_This is how I die, _Erin thought, feeling her stomach start to go into a knot.

She struggled against him, praying that this wasn't her time. It skipped _him _so why couldn't it skip her? She managed to throw him off of her and immediately got to her feet and dashed towards the nearest wall. Erin felt around blindly at the wall and began to pound her fists against the frail, rotting wood.

After a few minutes of kicking and punching at the wall, she felt it start to give way. At the same time, she felt Kevin grab her around her waist. The impact of him running into her like that had caused the wall to completely fall down.

They fell to the ground, hard. Erin opened her eyes and she could see Kevin's angry expression. She had never seen that look on him before. It was a look of pure... _hatred... _a longing for revenge...

Erin glanced around for something to hit him with, but to her horror, she saw flames dancing around them. For the time being, Erin was more scared of Kevin than the flames.

Kevin pinned her to the ground, his hands holding her arms in a death grip. He looked into her eyes and saw fear. A wicked smile formed on his face... "I get it," he said, "I know how it ends..."

Erin felt her heartbeat speed up ten-fold. "W-what?" she said in a scared, small voice.

"_I _cause your death!" said Kevin, all ounce of sanity evaporated from his body. "Isn't that right?"

Erin diverted her vision from him and struggled once more to get away. Kevin tightened his grip on her arms and pressed his weight almost fully against her. He leaned in towards her so that their faces were a mere inch apart.

"Do I cause your death?" asked Kevin. "Just like you caused Carrie's?"

The ceiling and the walls of the shack had started to catch fire...

The girl whimpered in fear and tried to shove him off of her. "If...if you... let me go-- you'll end it--" Erin tried to reason with him.

"Why the _fuck _would I wanna do that?" asked Kevin. "It _skipped _me! For me, _it's over!_"

He kneed Erin in the stomach and clumsily stood up. Erin rolled over on her side in a fetal position and groaned in pain.

"For me, it IS OVER!" screamed Kevin. "_I'm _not the one who's dying!" Kevin smiled cruelly. "It's _you! _It's _you, _Erin! _You're _the one who's dying! You're the last one!" Kevin raised a shaking hand and pointed at Erin with his index finger. "And _I'm _going to cause your death!"

Erin closed her eyes, knowing deep down that they were _both _going to die in the fire if something didn't happen and happen fast. She looked up at Kevin in fear, watching the shadows of the flames dancing on his face, highlighting his features.

"What's wrong?" asked Kevin in a mock voice, noticing Erin's state of discomfort. "Are you just scared because you know that you're fucked? Does it scare you, knowing that you're going to die here? Because of me?" He took a step towards her and kicked her in the back. She screamed out in pain. "Or did you see this coming? In another _premonition_?" He proceeded in kicking her several times.

"GODDAMMIT!" screamed Erin, now in tears from both fear and pain. "WHAT THE FUCK'S _WRONG WITH YOU?!_"

Kevin laughed as he kicked her in the stomach one last time. "FUCK DEATH! I'M _NOT _DYING! _ERIN'S _DYING!" He had completely lost it now.

Erin screamed as loud as possible, swearing that one of her ribs had snapped. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, only to be kicked in the wrist by Kevin.

This was it. She was going to be beat to death by her clinically insane ex-friend. Maybe there _was _no cheating death...

Erin could feel herself slipping out of consciousness.

"I'M NOT DYING!" Kevin screamed happily, continuing his attack.

"I'M NOT--"

Kevin let out a scream as a piece of burning wood came crashing down on him. He fell down right next to Erin. He rolled over and tried to get up, but another wooden beam came down on top of him, followed by a few more. Kevin's screams echoed throughout the night sky as he was burned to his death.

Erin felt her vision become even blurrier and she felt the warmth of the fire drawing nearer.

_This is it, _she thought, feeling her eyes well up with tears again, _I guess I'll be with Ian shortly..._

Right as she closed her eyes, expecting the end to consume her, she thought she heard Ian's voice...


	16. The Key To Nothing

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Sixteen: The Key To Nothing**

The sound of sirens echoing came into mind. People mumbling. It all sounded underwater.

"_Is she..." _it all turned to gibberish.

_"Freak accidents..." _Gibberish. Mumbling.

More mumbling and unintelligible noises. _"... Tricenntennial..."_

Nothing. Sounds fading in and out...

Muffled talking. _"... Perry Mason..."_

_"she's..." _Nonsense. _"...impalement."_

_"Kevin Fischer..." _Mutters. _"... burn to death..."_

Mumbling. Nothing. _"... Jason Wise..."_

This broke through to the surface.

"Jason Wise is in the other ambulance..."

Erin opened her eyes and immediately sat up at the sound of Jason's name. She gasped for breath and coughed a little. "Jason!" she said. She looked around. Everything was so blurry. It seemed like everything was in slow motion.

The two nurses and the hospital attendent in the ambulance all looked at Erin in surprise.

"Where's... Jason?" Erin mumbled, trying as hard as she could to speak. "Whereshe..." Her speech was becoming slurred. They must have drugged her. Erin felt a sharp pain in her chest and she whimpered and fell backwards onto the stretcher.

"It's okay," whispered one of the nurses, grabbing Erin's hand and caressing it. "You'll be alright. Your friend's gonna be okay, too."

Everything was going back underwater to Erin. She felt unconsciousness welcome her once more.

0000000000000000000000

Beeping. Muffled voices. Beep. Speech. Beep. Speech...

Erin opened her eyes. At first she saw nothing but white. She closed her eyes and waited until she could make out what the voices were saying...

_Am I... dead?_

No, that wasn't right. It couldn't be. She was in an ambulance... _or was she? _

_Was it all a dream? _

The girl opened her green eyes once more, this time taking in her surroundings. It was still kind of blurry, but she could tell that she was in a hospital bed. She moved her left arm, which was folded across her stomach, and noticed that there was medical tape around it. Her right arm was hooked up to an IV machine that was reading her pulse. Erin looked from the machine to her bandaged arm, a look of sheer confusion on her pale face. _What the hell...? _

The doctor and the nurse who were standing in at the end of the bed stopped talking and stared at Erin, watching her every move. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable. She tried to move into a sitting position, but then felt that blinding pain in her chest again. She layed back down, clenching her teeth.

"You're probably wondering what's happened..." said the doctor.

Erin nodded, unable to find her voice. She was so confused.

"Well," started the doctor, taking a seat on a chair next to the bedside table, "You were found in a burning shed in the middle of the wreckage by your friend, Jason Wise. He found Kevin Fischer as well, but Kevin didn't make it out." He paused and looked at Erin before continuing.

"We asked Jason about it and he said that he got into the shed right as it was burning down," the doc went on. "He said he heard screaming coming from inside and decided to investigate. Apparently Kevin Fischer was trying to beat you to death before he was struck down by the ceiling caving in on him."

Erin tried to let it all sink in. She felt really awkward.

"Jason rescued you from the fire. The ambulances were already there, as there were many people hurt in the panic. Jason brought you over to one and he was freaking out and crying--"

"Why?" asked Erin in a weak voice.

The doctor looked surprised that she had spoken. "He thought you were dead."

"Oh," said Erin, quietly. She sat up again, more carefully this time, and crossed her legs. _Jason __thought I was... God, I can't believe it... _Erin looked down and fidgeted with the blanket covering her lower half. _I bet he was real scared..._

"... When we got you to the hospital, we had to do emergency surgery; one of your ribs was snapped almost completely in half, could have punctured your lung; and you had severe burns on your left arm..."

_I wonder where Jason is now? What about Julie? _thought Erin, paying almost no attention to the doctor.

"... when you're more awake, you're going to have to have a few quick tests done, to ensure that there is no severe internal damage..."

"Where's Jason?" interrupted Erin.

The doctor gave her a dissappointed look. "Jason Wise? He's fine; in the room across the hall. Should I go get him for you?

Erin nodded. "Yes, please. That would be great."

The doctor left the room, followed by the nurse. Erin gently positioned herself into a laying down position and pulled the blanket up to her neck.

_What a night..._

She closed her eyes, sleep almost overcoming her mind. She didn't even hear Jason's soft footsteps as he walked towards her bed, and she didn't even notice his weight as he sat down beside her.

"Erin," he whispered into her ear.

Erin opened her eyes and sat up, ignoring the pain in her chest. "Jason!"

Jason gently hugged her and she wrapped her arms around him as tightly as possible.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Erin said, burying her face in his shoulder.

"No," said Jason, "I'm glad _you're _alright." He scooted closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders, holding her close. "I thought... I thought I lost you..." He kissed the top of her head.

Erin felt a tear roll down her cheek. _What's wrong with me? I shouldn't be crying, it's OVER. I should __be happy... _Well, she _was _happy. Just a bit overwhelmed.

"Jay," said Erin, leaning against him and taking in his scent, "how's Julie?"

"She's okay," said Jason. "In fact, they released her last night. I had to stay all night, though."

They were both silent for a good amount of time.

Finally, Jason decided to speak. "So," he said, "now that _that's _over... even though we technically _are _already... how would you like to... _get together?" _He looked at Erin and smiled with confidence.

Erin smiled back. Jason gently wiped the few tears off her face. "I'd love to," said Erin.

"Then why are you so sad?" asked Jason.

"I'm not sad," replied Erin.

"Then what's wrong?" Jason watched her every move, nothing but love and concern in his eyes.

"Do you really think it's over?" asked Erin.

Jason held her tightly. "Yeah." He kissed her on the top of her head and held her hand gently in his.

"It's over, Erin. It's finally over."

**... Or is it? It's not as over as they might think...**


	17. Pulling The String

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**Chapter Seventeen: Pulling The String**

6 MONTHS LATER...

"Yeah... I know... Don't worry, I'll have it done by then... Bye." Erin hung up her cell phone and stuffed it in her pocket. She pulled her black trench-coat tighter around her body and then looked down at the ground. _Only been in college for a few months for graphic design and this band already __wants me to design their EP cover... _Erin was broke out of her thoughts when the metro bus pulled up at the stop. She looked around to see if anyone else was getting on, shrugged, and got on the bus.

The college student walked down the isle trying to find an empty seat; she didn't like to sit with complete strangers. After finding a seat almost directly in the middle of the bus, Erin sat down and got out her iPod. She put Mudvayne's _The End of All Things To Come _on shuffle and bobbed her head a little to the beat of "Silenced."

It was a cold, damp day in January. The Christmas holidays had been somewhat good, considering it was the first Christmas she spent with Jason... and the only one she spent without Ian. Things with her and Jason were going good. They were both attending a community college in Pittsburgh; far away from McKinley and memories of the tragedies that happened there. Even the town's name reminded Erin of Ian, for obvious reasons.

Erin still missed Ian very deeply. The same with Jason missing Wendy. Erin had to admit that Jason's winter holidays were probably more lonely than hers, after all, he lost his all three of his closest friends in fatal freak accidents the previous summer. In fact, Erin, Jason, and Julie were the only ones who even made it.

Although she _was _in a steady relationship with Jason, Erin still kept the engagement ring that Ian had given her a little over a year ago. She didn't wear it anymore, but she kept it in a jewelry box on her dresser in the apartment she and Jason shared. Jason understood completely. Erin was surprised that things with her and Jason were going so well; she had never thought even _once _that she would end up with him; she always assumed it would be her and Ian 'til the end.

_I guess tragedy DOES bring some people together, _thought Erin as she skipped ahead to "World So Cold". She was a little eager for the night ahead; she was supposed to meet Jason in front of a local club where they were to have dinner and see Metallophobia, the band that hired Erin to design their CD, and meet the members. Erin wondered what Jason was doing and thought of calling him for a moment, but decided not to.

_Weird, _thought Erin, _I've been feeling off all day. I can feel tension... So familiar..._

_Kind of like that night at WonderLand..._

Erin felt a knot form in her stomach along with a numbing sensation spreading throughout her body. _No! __Not THAT! Don't even THINK that way! _She leaned her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes. _I feel like I'm going to be sick... _The bus came to a stop. _Just calm down, _Erin mentally told herself, _it skipped us, we're safe... _

After a few moments of surprisingly being able to keep her mind blank, Erin finally calmed herself. The song, "Skrying" had come on and she knew it by heart. It was always one of her favorite songs just simply because it was so bizarre and full of hidden meanings. She made out most of it to be about fortune telling or premonitions... _Premonitions... _

_Quit thinking about it! _Erin was getting annoyed with this instinct she kept feeling. It was as if the night of the Devil's Flight crash was haunting her. _It's over! I'm not dying! It SKIPPED me! It __SKIPPED-- _

Erin jumped and quickly turned her head around in fear. Someone had grabbed her shoulder rather abruptly. She yanked her headphones out of her ears and stuffed her iPod back in her pocket.

"What the--?!" She looked up to see who had touched her.

"Woa! Hey, lady, calm down, will y-- ERIN?!" It was Julie.

"Oh!" Erin laughed at her silly fears. "H-hey, Julie!" She smiled and patted the seat next to her. "What brings you to this part of the state? Shouldn't you be in school?"

Julie sat down. "Still on Christmas break... I guess I just kinda wanted to visit you and Jay and see how you're doing." Julie smiled at her.

"Really?" asked Erin, trying to hide the notes of fear in her voice. "That's really... nice of you."

"Erin," said Julie, "Are you okay?"

"Wh- me? Yeah, I'm fine," Erin answered nervously.

Julie gave her a concerned look and put a hand on her shoulder. "Erin, come on, something's bothering you... You can tell me, you know that."

Erin nervously laughed and brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. "I'm just... feeling like I did... that night... before the rollercoaster crashed..." She paused. "Pretty stupid, huh?"

Julie took Erin's hands in hers. "Erin, it's over. We survived. Me, you, and Jay. You were the last in line, we intervened, and it skipped you, just like it skipped me and Jay." She gave Erin a reassuring smile. "There's no reason to worry. If something happens to me and _then _Jay, _then _you can be worried."

"You're right," replied Erin. She wished she could really believe that...

Erin felt a vibration in her pocket and it took her a moment to notice. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, babe." It was Jason.

"Oh, hey," laughed Erin.

"You still goin' to dinner tonight?" asked Jason.

"Yeah, sure..."

After a silence, "You okay, babe?"

"Wha-? Yeah," said Erin.

"By the way," said Jason, "Where are you at?"

"On the bus," answered Erin, "Why?"

There was a pause. "Okay... what bus?"

Erin thought for a moment. "I think... 180..." _180... _

There was another pause on Jason's end. "Jay, are you still there?"

"Yeah," said Jason. "Turn around."

"Why?" asked Erin, finding this weird.

"Stand up and turn around," said Jason.

Erin did as she was told. She stood up and turned around after the bus made a stop. There in the very back of the bus, she saw Jason. She hung up her phone and walked to the back towards him, Julie following.

"I didn't know you were catching _this _bus," said Jason as he grabbed Erin's hand. She sat down next to him and leaned against him.

"I didn't know you were even _taking _a bus," said Erin. _This is TOO weird... _

Jason noticed Julie sit on the other side of Erin. "Julie?" He chuckled and smiled at her. "What are the chances?"

"I know," said Julie, casting him a smile, "Weird, huh?"

Jason nodded and put his arm around Erin. He held her tight and gently stroked her hand. Jason looked up at Erin's face and noticed something different in her eyes. "Erin?" he asked in a soft voice, "What's wrong, hon? You're shaking! Are you cold?"

Erin shook her head, "No." She got as close to Jason as humanly possible. That feeling of impending doom was starting to overwhelm her.

"What's wrong, babe?" asked Jason.

Erin closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to mentally calm herself. "Jay," she finally said, "Just hold me." Jason nodded and held her in a tight embrace.

This calmed Erin a bit. It didn't make her feel completely safe, but it really helped. After a few minutes, she was ready to fall asleep in Jason's arms.

"_There is someone walking behind you, Turn around, look at me..." _

Erin's emerald green eyes shot open. She looked straight down the isleway and saw two college kids get on the bus. One had a guitar and was singing and the other had a tin, collecting money. Oh, but that song... _That song... _

"_There is someone watching your footsteps, Turn around, look at me..."_

Jason noticed Erin's sudden relapse of fear. "Are you _sure _you're o...kay...?" He had finally realized the song that the man was playing. He looked into Erin's eyes and saw fear-- that same fear he had seen on the night of the rollercoaster incident. Not wanting a reminder, Jason turned to look out the window.

"Everything's alright," Jason tried to reassure her. "Everything is fine."

Julie, feeling a little out of place, decided to try and change the subject. "So... do you guys plan on... you know, taking your relationship to the next step?"

Erin and Jason turned to look at her. "I don't know," said Jason, kissing Erin on top of her head, "We'll just have to wait and find out."

"Yeah, back home, things are really weird... Half the school's still freaked out, and--" Julie paused and looked past Jason and Erin, out the bus window. "Is that...?" Jason and Erin turned to look out the window.

There was a semi-tractor-trailer speeding down a small hill at an intersection to right of their bus.

They were almost to the intersection.

"STOP THE BUS!" screamed Erin, standing up.

Someone in front of them turned around. "SHUT UP, LADY! It's GREEN!"

The bus driver didn't listen.

"HEY!" Jason stood up. "Don't you talk to her that way!"

The man stood up. "Really? What are you gonna do?"

"JASON! NO!" yelled Julie, trying to stop any conflict from happening. Other passengers were starting to notice.

The bus driver slammed on the brakes upon noticing threats of violence. He turned around. "HEY! You two in the back! Off my bus, now! Off--"

Erin looked out the window, a teardrop rolling down her cheek. The semi's driver had just jumped out, having lost control... _black ice... _

"NO FIGHTING!"

"JAY, NO!"

"FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE!"

_We're done for... _"STOP THE GODDAMN BUS!" Erin screamed at the top of her voice.

"What?"

_CRASH! BOOM! CRUNCH!_

Everybody screamed as the bus was hit with full force of the semi. Everyone was forced to the left side of the bus as it flipped over on it's side, completely rolling over twice. The bus then skidded, hitting three cars to it's left, instantly killing their passengers. Within seconds, the engine of the semi ripped through the ride side of the bus and killed two people in it's way.

The blade went crazy, having lost all control. It flew off and hit the busdriver like a propeller, chopping off his head. People left standing screamed. Julie turned around just in time to see his head bounce over a few seats. Before she could let out half a scream, the fan-blade hit her in the stomach, killing her instantly.

"JULIE!" screamed Erin. Jason screamed also.

A car collided with their side of the bus, forcing Jason, Erin, and others to all go towards the middle of the bus. In all the panic, the engine from the semi, still stuck in the side of the bus, exploded, killing at least four people. Debri flew in all directions.

"JASON!" screamed Erin. "GET DOWN!"

"WHAT?!" Jason turned around just in time to be hit with a huge chunk of the engine. It impaled him and sent him flying over Erin. He landed behind her. Erin started weeping hysterically at the sight.

The last car that had collided with the bus had caught on fire... And it was close to the gas tank. Erin could smell gasoline in the air.

_Shtick! BOOM!_

Erin felt herself fly through the windshield, along with a few others--some dead, few alive. She screamed as she felt her body being engulfed by the flames, burning her skin away...

And all of it stopped.

Erin opened her eyes. She was sitting with Julie, towards the middle of the bus. Erin fearfully looked around, feeling a few tears roll down her cheek.

"_Oh my God..._" Whispered Erin. She stood up as the bus stopped. "Julie, follow me," she could barely speak.

"What's with you?" asked Julie, following her to the back of the bus.

Erin got to the very back, and there was Jason, sitting by the window. He turned and saw her.

"Erin? I didn't think you were catching _this _bus!" Jason said excitedly. He smiled at Erin, then noticed Julie. "Julie? What are the chances?!" The bus had started moving once more, and Erin stayed standing up, too scared to move.

"I know," said Julie, "Weird, huh?"

_This is NOT happening... _Erin felt her heart start to beat so fast that she was waiting for it to burst. "_We have to get out of here..." _She said in a dead serious whisper.

Julie and Jason both looked at Erin, their smiles fading. "Erin?" asked Julie in a scared voice.

"Oh no..." said Jason, immediately knowing what was going on.

Erin looked out the window. They had come to an intersection, and there was the semi, coming towards Bus 180 like a shark in the water, hunting for unsuspecting prey.

"HEY, LADY!" came the voice of the man in front of them. "SIT DOWN!"

"HEY!" Jason stood up. "Don't you talk to her that way!"

Erin took a deep breath and screamed with all her might, "_JUST STOP THE GODDAMN BUS!" _


	18. The End of All Things To Come

**A Key To Nothing  
****by Juul**

**WARNING: This does NOT end well...**

**Chapter Eighteen: The End of All Things To Come**

_January 10, 2006_

_HEADLINE STORY: Yesterday, a freak accident featuring a pile-up of a total of thirteen cars, __including one semi-tractor-trailer and Greyhound Bus 180, occurred in the intersection by the __local Art and Music College and Starbucks. The cause of the crash is yet to be determined, but __it is speculated to be caused by the semi's driver hitting a sheet of black ice while going down __the hill towards the intersection. The driver, who remains anonymous to the general public at the __time, is to go on trial for vehicular manslaughter charges, for abandoning his vehicle without trying __to intervene with any damage caused by it. A total of sixty-two deaths were recorded, with only __one survivor, local college student, Erin Ulmer. Ulmer is to be released from the city hospital __today, as she escaped the accident with only minor burns, a few cracked ribs, and a broken wrist._

A figure, clad in all black, crumbled up the newspaper and dropped it to the ground, not even caring to find a proper trash recepticle. No one said anything. The person had their hands stuffed in the pockets of their trench-coat and just walked forward in a mechanical manner, not blinking, seeming to know where they were headed without even seeing, devoid of all emotions and morals.

The mysterious figure made their way through a small crowd of people near a newstand and shoved a few of them out of their path, not even caring to reply to some of the rude comments.

"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOIN', LADY!"

She didn't even turn around. Just kept going in one direction. She walked down the sidewalk, taking a few turns, and then coming to a small apartment complex. The woman walked through the main door and went up two flights of stairs. She stopped in front of apartment number 18 and fumbled with her keys. Opening the door, she stepped into the darkness.

Erin shut the door and dropped her keys to the ground. She locked the door and strode across the room. She soundlessly took off her trench-coat, carefully placing it on the couch and sat next to it. Erin sat there, emotionless, numb, staring at nothing ahead of her.

She definitely looked worse for wear. Her usually well-kept red hair was messy and uncombed, and her long, red locks fell over her eyes, giving her a haunted look. She was paler than usual and her usually bright, green eyes were now a darkened shade, lacking all signs of emotion. A few cuts adorned her face, some stitches on her left cheek under her eye.

A cast was present on her left arm, protecting her fragile, broken wrist. The cast stopped at her elbow, but medical tape was wrapped around her arm up to her shoulder, conceiling burn marks. Her right arm nearly matched, minus the fact that a horrible cut lined with stitches ran from her elbow up to her shoulder and across almost to her neck. The plain black tank-top she was wearing did no justice to hide her injuries.

What was there to hide anymore?

After what seemed like hours on end of tension and silence, Erin slowly turned her head to look down at her coat sitting beside her. She carefully reached into one of the inside pockets and pulled out a small pistol. She sat there for a moment, the small gun in her right hand.

Erin stared at the weapon, absolutely nothing running through her mind. She rested her hands in her lap, holding the pistol with in her right hand, fingering the smooth, cold metal.

It was loaded.

All of a sudden, in a rush of memories, Erin momentarily felt all her emotions rush back into her body, overwhelming her in a sense. She let out a tortured, frightened scream and began to cry hysterically.

"WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?! _WHY ME?! WHY DID IT CHOOSE ME?! WHAT ELSE __COULD YOU NEED, YOU'VE TAKEN EVERYTHING?!" _Erin screamed at the ceiling, at nothing, for nothing. She continued screaming curses and accusations for everything bad that had ever happened to her. Eventually she grew tired and quieted her screams to pathetic sobs and whimpers.

_Why did all this have to happen to me?! Why?! WHY?! _It wasn't her fault any of this happened, was it? She tried. She _tried _to stop that rollercoaster! She _tried _to save everyone! She _tried _to stop that pile-up! And what did she do? Nothing, that's what. Why? She _couldn't _do anything drastic to stop it.

This was just like everything else in her life. She had lost her father at an early age. Her mother had remarried to try and fill the void. Erin _tried _to please her step-father. No matter what she did, he'd always find something. She had always done _something _wrong. And mommy always stopped and stared. Mommy always agreed with (fake)Daddy.

It was the same in junior high; she was picked on for being different. Erin had never done anything to any of those kids and they _still _provoked her. They _still _made her feel like shit. They _still _made her want to hurt herself. Everything was a hell until Ian came. _Ian _was what made her life worth living. _Ian _was who rescued her from domestic violence and saved her from herself.

But she had tragically lost Ian: her _everything. Her reason._

Erin honestly tried to get over Ian. She accepted the fact that he died and she'd never get over him fully, being her first love and all. Erin had thought that in Jason she had found someone else. Someone to fill the void. Someone who shared the same pain as her and who would always understand.

And just like everything else, Jason was taken from her, too.

Everything from her father to her small circle of friends to her _fiance _had been taken from her; Ripped out of her hands while she stood there paralyzed, unable to do anything to stop it.

Erin tried desperately to stop her emotional breakdown. Anything was better than this. If she _had _to keep living, why live with emotions? Why? Especially when all one knows and is capable of feeling anymore is absolute despair and torment...

Something dawned on Erin.

_What if, just hypothetically speaking here, that the last in line was to... oh say... make the utilitarian __choice to kill themself?_

Kevin's words echoed throughout Erin's mind.

_That's right, _thought Erin, her state of numbness returning to her body, _I'm the only one left; the last __in line... _She looked down at the pistol in her hand. The silver gleam of it reflecting the moonlight streaming in from the blinds seemed to be taunting Erin.

_Do it, _she heard a voice in the back of her mind telling her. _You know you want to..._

Erin fearfully shook her head and felt her flood of emotions returning.

_Look at you, _said the voice, _you're a wreck. You've lost EVERYTHING. You literally have NOTHING __LEFT. What is there to live for? Your friends? Oh wait, they're all DEAD! DEAD! Just like IAN!_

"No," sobbed Erin, drawing her knees to her chest and burying her face in them. "No..."

_There's Jason, _went on the voice. _Nevermind, he's gone, too! Damn, looks like you're all alone. __You're finally all alone... but wait, you've been alone all along, haven't you?_

"No..."

_Your dear father's been dead for almost fifteen years now... what was it he died of again? If __it was suicide, it must run in the family... You think Mommy must miss you, right? Well think of __it this way, if she even cared to begin with, do you honestly believe that she would have let __that poor excuse for a father beat you like you werent' shit?! It's obvious that he never cared... _

"SHUT UP!" screamed Erin, holding her hands tightly over her ears, trying to drown out the voice, even though it was in her mind.

_You HAD someone who cared, IAN. But he's DEAD! You had him for a minute, but you let him SLIP! __The same with Jason! JASON WISE IS DEAD! IAN MCKINLEY IS DEAD! _

"I KNOW THEY'RE DEAD!" Erin screamed.

_You can't take it anymore... Why should you? You can't go home, there's nobody there. Momma __don't care, she didn't even call you while you were at the hospital... Your friends are gone; they __died... They all screamed and cried... And you couldn't save them..._

"NO!" Erin cried out into the night. _"LEAVE ME ALONE!" _She tightened her grip on the pistol in her right hand.

_... You couldn't save them... All of them, DEAD... and here you are, cheated death a SECOND __TIME!_

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!"

_But remember what Kevin said... Just remember... What else is there to do? You'll be alone for __the rest of your life... just like you always have been..._

Erin fingered the barrel of the gun, the cold metal feeling so welcoming for a strange reason.

_Ian's dead. Jason's dead. Julie's dead. They're all dead. You killed them._

_"NO!" _Erin sobbed hysterically, eventually bringing herself to vomit on the floor in front of her.

_You let them die... you watched them die... you're still alive..._

_"NO!" _She slammed her left hand against the small table to her left and cried out in pain from further damaging her broken wrist.

_Ian... Jason... Dead... Wendy... Dead... You... Alive..._

_"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"_

_DEAD! YOU KILLED THEM!_

_"I TRIED TO SAVE THEM!"_

_YOU KILLED THEM!_

_"I DIDN'T FUCKING KILL THEM!"_

_MURDERER! YOU KILLED THEM ALL! YOU KILLED--_

A gun shot was heard echoing through the night.

* * *

AUTOPSY REPORT

CASE #: 180

DECEDENT: ERIN ALEXZ ULMER

AGE: 18 YEARS, HEIGHT: 67 INCHES

RACE: WHITE, WEIGHT: 135 LBS

SEX: FEMALE, IDENTIFIED BY: ANONYMOUS

DATE AND TIME OF AUTOPSY: JANUARY 11, 2006 at 9:00 a.m.

PERFORMED BY: DR. TALIA MOON

MANNER OF DEATH: SUICIDE

CAUSE OF DEATH: GUN-SHOT WOUND / HEAD TRAUMA

* * *

Death never loses. _You_ _cannot cheat death. _


End file.
